THE PENDULUM

CULLOWHEE, N.C – On the first play of the game, the suspense was taken out of the air with a  44-yard pass from Elon junior quarterback Scott Riddle to senior wide receiver Terrell Hudgins. With this catch, Hudgins became the all-time leader in career receiving yards in the FCS passing Jerry Rice who had 4,697 career receiving yards. Elon was held scoreless on this drive, but went on to win the game 42-17.

"I knew I needed a certain amount of yards, but the record wasn't on my mind when the ball was in the air," Hudgins said.

Elon scored first on a 26-yard rush by Elon junior running back Brandon Newsome with 3:26 left in the first quarter. Western Carolina responded on its next drive, scoring on a 9-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Zack Jaynes to wide receiver Chris Everett to tie the game with 20.4 seconds left in first quarter.

After trading several touchdowns, Elon went into the half leading Western Carolina 21-14.

"We've been spoiled by our defense all year," Riddle said. "We had some adversity with only a seven point lead."

The Elon defense responded in the second half, not allowing a point until 12:53 left in the game.

Newsome added his fourth touchdown of the game with 7:43 left in the game on a 13-yard run. Newsome finished the game with 143 yards on 16 carries.

Riddle finished the game 20-26 passing with 228 yards and one touchdown.  Hudgins finished the game with eight catches for 153 yards.

The Phoenix is 8-1 overall and 6-0 in the Southern Conference. The loss drops Western Carolina to 1-8 overall and 1-6 in the SoCon.

The Phoenix play Appalachian State 3 p.m. Saturday at Rhodes Stadium.