FCS Recap: Road trip wins today for Davidson, Elon, WCU and Gardner-Webb

It was a winning day for five of North Carolina’s seven FCS teams. Four teams prevailed on the road. The other won its homecoming contest.

Elon upset its second top-5 foe of the season. Gardner-Webb turned to a third-string quarterback down the stretch and prevailed against Bryant in overtime. Davidson rushed for nearly 500 yards and scored 61 points at Stetson. Western Carolina slipped past Wofford, while North Carolina Central dispatched of its third-straight MEAC foe in front of a happy homecoming crowd of more than 13,600.

The only teams to lose today: Campbell and NC A&T. The Camels dropped a non-conference showdown at North Carolina. The Aggies gave new conference foe Towson a solid battle before giving way.

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Today’s Schedule/Final Scores

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FCS Football: News, Notes and Takeaways

* Coastal Chaos used to be a moniker attached to the Atlantic Coast Conference’s wild and unpredictable Coastal Division, which went away after the 2022 season. The Coastal Athletic Association from the FCS ranks might want to pick up the torch for 2023.

Elon created a share of the chaos on Saturday, denting previously unbeaten Delaware’s conference record for the first time.

Matthew Downing threw for 352 yards and three touchdowns, and the Phoenix prevailed over the fifth-ranked Blue Hens 33-27. The results leaves Elon and Delaware both at 5-1 in CAA play. Villanova, Albany and Richmond also have 5-1 records atop the standings. Six teams behind them, including Campbell, have 3-3 CAA marks. That’s a lot of traffic.

* Elon beat a No. 5 ranked team for the second time this season. The Phoenix topped William & Mary 14-6 when the Tribe held that ranking in late September.

Elon set the tone Saturday by creating a fumble on the opening kickoff. Jake Marion forced it, while teammate Cornell Hendrick Jr. covered it. Jack Berkowitz helped the Phoenix cash in on the drive with the first of four field goals.

Johncarlos Miller II made five catches for Elon for 101 yards and a touchdown — the most receiving yards by a Phoenix tight end in the school’s FCS history. Chandler Brayboy posted a career high with 121 yards in receptions. He had 269 all-purpose yards on the day.

Elon led 27-13 at halftime and 33-20 after Berkowitz’s fourth field goal. Delaware scored with 3:27 to go to pull within six and got the ball back after a three-and-out. Much like the William & Mary triumph, Elon had to make one last stand in the red zone to preserve the victory.

Marco Patierno ended the Delaware threat with a fumble recovery, and Elon took a knee, improving to 5-4 overall.

* Davidson (7-2, 7-0 Pioneer Football League) rushed for 483 yards and compiled 638 total yards en route to its seventh straight victory. The Wildcats had two 100-yard backs: Mason Sheron (147 yards, two touchdowns) and Mari Adams (107 yards, two touchdowns). One of Sheron’s scores came on a 94-yard run.

* Davidson never trailed but never could put Stetson completely away either. The ‘Cats built a 51-20 lead in the third quarter before giving up three TDs down the stretch.

Quarterbacks Coulter Cleland and Luke Durkin each had touchdown throws for Davidson. Twelve different players earned positive rushing yards, with seven earning at least 25 yards. Sam Valor also scored two touchdowns. Maxwell Weaver and Aaron Maione had TD catches.

Daniel Carter led Davidson with 11 tackles and also picked off two passes. Grant Reeder turned a third Davidson interception into a 45-yard return.

Adam Zouagui booted two field goals to complete the Wildcat scoring.

* AJ Johnson scored a touchdown on a three-yard run in overtime, and Jay Billingsley booted the all-important extra point to lift Gardner-Webb to a 45-44 comeback win at Bryant.

Bryant had scored first on its OT possession but elected to try for 2 points instead of kicking. William McRainey knocked down a pass attempt to keep Bryant at 44 points.

GWU saw early leads of 14-0 and 24-10 evaporate in the second half. Bryant scored four straight touchdowns, including on a 25-yard interception return, to take a 38-24 advantage.

But the Bulldogs, which won for the third time in a row, refused to lay down. Gardner-Webb mounted an 18-play, 82-yard touchdown drive — capped by a three-yard touchdown run from quarterback Jaylen King — to pull back within seven.

The Bulldogs then tied the contest with 18 seconds left on a Gino English one-yard run. English was GWU’s back-up quarterback Saturday and the third signal-caller the team has used this season. He directed the last two scoring drives.

* The win lifted Gardner-Webb to 5-4 on the season, 3-1 in the Big South/OVC. The Bulldogs remain in conference contention. UT Martin leads with a 4-1 mark, but GWU has a head-to-head win. Southeast Missouri also is 3-1. Four teams loom at 2-2.

* Narii Gaither caught a touchdown pass for Gardner-Webb in the first period and became the school’s all-time leader in TD receptions by a running back (nine). Gaither’s 89 rushing yards helped him cross the 3,000-yard plateau for his career. He’s now at 3,042 yards, only the second Bulldog to reach that milestone. Gaither has 840 career receiving yards, the new school leader in that category among running backs.

* North Carolina Central’s Davius Richard also put his name on a new school record Saturday. Richard became the Eagles’ all-time touchdown leader (39), passing former wide receiver Robert Clark (1983-86).

Richard accounted for four scores in the 38-24 win over Norfolk State. He completed 9 of 16 throws for 151 yards and three scores. Richard rushed for 61 yards and another TD.

Latrell Collier had a rushing TD for the Eagles. Devin Smith caught two of Richard’s scoring throws. Miles Campbell had the other.

* NCCU has now won 10 in a row at home. The Eagles improved to 8-1 on the season, 3-0 against MEAC opponents.

* Western Carolina snapped a two-game losing skid but didn’t have an easy time with winless Wofford. Richard McCollum booted what would be the game-clinching field goal midway through the fourth quarter to break a 25-25 tie.

The Catamounts (6-3, 4-2 SoCon) twice had to rally from eight-point deficits. Quarterback Cole Gonzales threw for 229 yards and two scores. Branson Adams rushed for 51 yards and a touchdown and caught six passes for 50 yards.

Calvin Jones and Censere Lee each made touchdown catches. McCollum booted two field goals.

Andreas Keaton (10 tackles) and Antoine Williams (eight tackles) led the WCU defense, which turned Wofford (0-9, 0-6 SoCon) over on downs on its last possession.

* Kenji Christian earned touchdowns on runs of 11, 2 and 4 yards in one of NC A&T’s best offensive performances of the season. Christian finished with 140 yards on 22 carries, averaging 6.4 yards per attempt.

The Aggies (1-8, 0-6 CAA) piled up 253 yards on the ground and hit 500 total yards for the first time this season. Darren Bennett caught a TD pass from Eli Brickhandler, who finished 10-of-16 for 181 yards.

Amonte Jones had 98 yards in receptions.

* Campbell played North Carolina even for a quarter. Hajj-Malik Williams threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Chaney Fitzgerald to tie the contest 7-7.

But North Carolina erupted from there, scoring 52 unanswered to snap a two-game losing skid.

CJ Tillman made 14 tackles for Campbell. He also had a quarterback sack. Ethan Quarshie also had a sack.

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