Bulldogs go down as tempers flare

Tempers were as nasty as the weather on Saturday afternoon at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

Elon players and school officials had to separate head coach Pete Lembo and a Phoenix player during a third-quarter sideline scuffle. Citadel coach Kevin Higgins was irate with the referees at the end of the first half, and huddled briefly with the head referee again at game's end.

And Citadel fans, upset with several controversial calls, booed the refs off the field as the shell-shocked Bulldogs tried to comprehend a 27-23 loss to Elon before 12,582 fans on a soggy Parents Day.

"I don't know whether to describe this game as bizarre or as flat-out ugly," said Lembo, whose team took control of the Southern Conference race, improving to 6-1 overall and 4-0 in the league with its sixth straight victory.

Both descriptors apply, as Elon, ranked 12th among the nation's FCS teams, scored a 70-yard touchdown on its first play from scrimmage and kicked two field goals in the final 22 seconds of the half, using just 41 seconds to score 13 points.

The 25th-ranked Bulldogs (3-3, 1-2) had TD drives of just 5 and 9 yards courtesy of special-teams play, but then gave back six points with two special-teams mistakes at the end of the half.

"A tough loss," said Higgins, whose team has dropped two straight. "Any number of guys on the field could have made just one more play to change the outcome of the game, and we didn't do it. I have to give credit to Elon; they are a good team and made the plays when they needed to."

Elon took the lead for good at 27-23 on a 10-yard TD pass from Scott Riddle to Bo Williamson with 5:53 left in the third quarter. The Bulldogs could not score on their last four possessions, punting once and coming up short on fourth down three times. The last time, on fourth-and-29 from The Citadel 14-yard line, Andre Roberts caught a pass from Bart Blanchard and appeared to step out of bounds at the Bulldogs' 43, just ahead of the first-down marker. The officials marked it at the 42, giving Elon the ball with 2:04 left and setting off already frustrated Citadel fans.

"Our thing is, we had opportunities ourselves," Higgins said. "It's not the officials. We had chances to make plays and gosh, if we could have just made one or two more, it's a different game."

The Bulldogs assigned 6-2, 180-pound sophomore cornerback Cortez Allen to Elon's record-setting receiver, 6-2, 235-pound Terrell Hudgins. And Allen acquitted himself well, holding Hudgins to just five catches. But on Elon's first play, Hudgins blew by the cornerback and snared a 70-yard scoring pass from Scott Riddle, giving Elon a 7-3 lead.

"I just needed to come out more focused," Allen said.

Elon's improved running game was as advertised as Brandon Newsome gained 134 yards, his 55-yard burst setting up Williamson's game-winning TD in the third quarter.

A muffed punt by Elon and a blocked punt by The Citadel's Travis Ruff set up Blanchard for 4-yard TD passes to Roberts and Taylor Cornett for a 16-7 lead with just 2:47 left in the half.

But two costly mistakes followed. Citadel kicker Jordan Panter booted the kickoff out of bounds, giving Elon the ball at its 40. A borderline block-in-the-back on Elon went uncalled, and officials first ruled that cornerback Tillman Millhouse had made a diving interception of a tipped pass at the Bulldogs' 1 before calling it incomplete.

"I thought I had it," Millhouse said.

That set up Andrew Wilcox for a 23-yard field goal with 22 seconds left, cutting the lead to 16-10. Wilcox squibbed the kickoff, and Citadel freshman Chris Hammett picked it up and was belted by Darrius McQueen, Elon recovering the fumble at The Citadel's 12. On second-and-9 from the 11, Riddle threw the ball away as he tripped under pressure, the clock somehow stopping with 0.4 seconds left.

The referees signaled incomplete pass to stop the clock, but then marked Riddle down where he was tackled. That left Wilcox time for a 23-yard field goal and a 16-13 halftime scoring, leaving Higgins upset.

"I asked the referee, and he said the quarterback was in the grasp," Higgins said. "So the clock should have kept going, but it stopped."

As rain poured to start the second half, Elon drove 63 yards for a 20-16 lead, A.J. Harris scoring from 11 yards out. Blanchard answered with a 29-yard TD strike to Roberts, wide open on a post pattern, to put the Bulldogs up, 23-20, with 6:27 left in the third quarter. But that was the last time they scored, and now Furman awaits.

"I think our guys battled," Higgins said. "And I think some grew up on the field today, right in front of our eyes."