University of New Hampshire Athletics
Dylan Laube and Carlos Washington, Jr. are explosive Wildcat weapons.
Insider Report: Aiming to Get Back on Track
10/21/2021 2:15:00 PM | Football, UNH Insider
'Cats Take 2-1 CAA Record to Elon, Look to Keep Pace in League
DURHAM, N.H. – There's more than a bit of a logjam atop the Colonial Athletic Association standings with five games left in the regular season.
The University of New Hampshire football team will aim to retain its spot among the contenders for a league championship and the FCS playoffs when it travels to North Carolina to face Elon University on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Wildcats and Phoenix have matching records: 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the league. Seven of the league's 12 teams have one loss or less. Villanova is the only team unbeaten in league play at 3-0 while James Madison, Rhode Island, William & Mary and Towson join UNH and Elon with a single loss.
After Elon, the Wildcats return home to face Richmond on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. in a Halloweekend game.
Fans can purchase tickets to UNH home games at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the UNH Wildcats box office at 603-862-4000 (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm). All CAA games will be streamed at FloFootball.
The Wildcats have nothing but CAA contests remaining.
UNH and Elon came their 3-3 overall and 2-1 records by different routes.
The Phoenix dropped to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the league with a 34-31 loss to William & Mary and responded with wins at Richmond, 20-7, and at Maine, 33-23, before having last week off.
The Wildcats started the season 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the league and have lost their last two games, including 23-21 to then-No. 3 James Madison on October 2 and last week to Dartmouth,38-21.
"I think it's brought us together more," said sophomore quarterback Bret Edwards of the three-game skid and last week's loss. "We know where we're at right now. We know where we need to go. The more confidence we have in each other, the better we'll be in the long run."
After generally being led by its defense during the early part of the season, the offense had more bright spots against Dartmouth – with three quick strike touchdowns of 48 yards or more – while the defense struggled.
Head coach Sean McDonnell is still waiting for offense, defense and special teams to combine their efforts at the same time.
"When I look at our team, there have been spurts where we have been pretty good and there are other times when we haven't put it together," McDonnell said in his weekly media session. "I was hoping it was last weekend when we'd put it all together and play a full game in all three aspects and play pretty good complementary football. We haven't done that yet, looking forward to see if we can connect it this week."
Tony Trisciani, a Manchester native who did a couple of stints as an assistant at UNH under first Bill Bowes and then McDonnell, is in his third year as head coach at Elon.
The Phoenix are led on the field by Davis Cheek, a 6-foot-3, 217-pound senior quarterback.
"He's doing a really good job," McDonnell said. "He has a great feel for what they want to do offensively. They do a really good job of getting it to multiple people. Everybody touches the ball and they keep you off balance that way."
Cheek is tough to bring down.
"He avoids a lot of sacks," said UNH freshman defensive end Josiah Silver, who had a quarterback sack against Dartmouth and leads the team with five.
The Wildcats tackled poorly against Dartmouth and have worked on improving that this week and will also be looking to get pressure on Cheek and create turnovers. The defense did not have a turnover against Dartmouth.
Cheek has completed 156 of his 245 passes for 1,719 yards and his 286.5 passing yards per game leads the CAA. He has thrown 11 touchdown passes and been intercepted just twice.
The Phoenix have not turned the ball over in either of their last two games.
Running backs Dylan Laube, a sophomore, and Carlos Washington Jr., a junior, combined with junior receiver Sean Coyne to spark most of the offensive fireworks against Dartmouth.
Laube raced to a 75-yard rushing touchdown for UNH's first points in the second quarter and then had a 53-yard TD run in the third.
Edwards passed back to Washington, who then passed to a wide-open Coyne down the right sideline for a 48-yard scoring play to cut Dartmouth's lead to 31-21 late in the third quarter.
"Dylan's a beast," Edwards said. "We call him 'The Beast.' And 'Los, he just does his thing. You know he's always going to make somebody miss. He'll get some yards for us – and throw touchdowns now, I guess. They're great guys to have in the backfield with me."
The Wildcats should be ready to go, Silver and Edwards said.
"We're just practicing as hard as we can," Silver said. "We know these next five games we have to come out with wins if we want to get to where we want to go and do what we're capable of doing."
Said the quarterback: "We know what we can do and we know what we have to do this week. We're really focusing on that. We're just trying to get back on track."
COMING UP
THE OPPONENT
The University of New Hampshire football team will aim to retain its spot among the contenders for a league championship and the FCS playoffs when it travels to North Carolina to face Elon University on Saturday at 1 p.m.
The Wildcats and Phoenix have matching records: 3-3 overall and 2-1 in the league. Seven of the league's 12 teams have one loss or less. Villanova is the only team unbeaten in league play at 3-0 while James Madison, Rhode Island, William & Mary and Towson join UNH and Elon with a single loss.
After Elon, the Wildcats return home to face Richmond on Saturday, Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. in a Halloweekend game.
Fans can purchase tickets to UNH home games at UNHWildcats.com/Tickets or by calling the UNH Wildcats box office at 603-862-4000 (Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm). All CAA games will be streamed at FloFootball.
The Wildcats have nothing but CAA contests remaining.
UNH and Elon came their 3-3 overall and 2-1 records by different routes.
The Phoenix dropped to 1-3 overall and 0-1 in the league with a 34-31 loss to William & Mary and responded with wins at Richmond, 20-7, and at Maine, 33-23, before having last week off.
The Wildcats started the season 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the league and have lost their last two games, including 23-21 to then-No. 3 James Madison on October 2 and last week to Dartmouth,38-21.
"I think it's brought us together more," said sophomore quarterback Bret Edwards of the three-game skid and last week's loss. "We know where we're at right now. We know where we need to go. The more confidence we have in each other, the better we'll be in the long run."
After generally being led by its defense during the early part of the season, the offense had more bright spots against Dartmouth – with three quick strike touchdowns of 48 yards or more – while the defense struggled.
Head coach Sean McDonnell is still waiting for offense, defense and special teams to combine their efforts at the same time.
"When I look at our team, there have been spurts where we have been pretty good and there are other times when we haven't put it together," McDonnell said in his weekly media session. "I was hoping it was last weekend when we'd put it all together and play a full game in all three aspects and play pretty good complementary football. We haven't done that yet, looking forward to see if we can connect it this week."
Tony Trisciani, a Manchester native who did a couple of stints as an assistant at UNH under first Bill Bowes and then McDonnell, is in his third year as head coach at Elon.
The Phoenix are led on the field by Davis Cheek, a 6-foot-3, 217-pound senior quarterback.
"He's doing a really good job," McDonnell said. "He has a great feel for what they want to do offensively. They do a really good job of getting it to multiple people. Everybody touches the ball and they keep you off balance that way."
Cheek is tough to bring down.
"He avoids a lot of sacks," said UNH freshman defensive end Josiah Silver, who had a quarterback sack against Dartmouth and leads the team with five.
The Wildcats tackled poorly against Dartmouth and have worked on improving that this week and will also be looking to get pressure on Cheek and create turnovers. The defense did not have a turnover against Dartmouth.
Cheek has completed 156 of his 245 passes for 1,719 yards and his 286.5 passing yards per game leads the CAA. He has thrown 11 touchdown passes and been intercepted just twice.
The Phoenix have not turned the ball over in either of their last two games.
Running backs Dylan Laube, a sophomore, and Carlos Washington Jr., a junior, combined with junior receiver Sean Coyne to spark most of the offensive fireworks against Dartmouth.
Laube raced to a 75-yard rushing touchdown for UNH's first points in the second quarter and then had a 53-yard TD run in the third.
Edwards passed back to Washington, who then passed to a wide-open Coyne down the right sideline for a 48-yard scoring play to cut Dartmouth's lead to 31-21 late in the third quarter.
"Dylan's a beast," Edwards said. "We call him 'The Beast.' And 'Los, he just does his thing. You know he's always going to make somebody miss. He'll get some yards for us – and throw touchdowns now, I guess. They're great guys to have in the backfield with me."
The Wildcats should be ready to go, Silver and Edwards said.
"We're just practicing as hard as we can," Silver said. "We know these next five games we have to come out with wins if we want to get to where we want to go and do what we're capable of doing."
Said the quarterback: "We know what we can do and we know what we have to do this week. We're really focusing on that. We're just trying to get back on track."
COMING UP
- After Elon, the Wildcats have two home games and two road games remaining.
- Richmond is in Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. for a Halloweekend contest.
- The Wildcats close out the regular season with their rivalry game against Maine in the Border Battle for the Brice-Cowell Musket in Wildcat Stadium on Nov. 20 at 1 p.m.
- Tickets are available at www.unhwildcats.com or by calling the Whittemore Center Box Office at 603-862-4000.
- The Wildcats play back-to-back road games at UAlbany on Nov. 6 and at Rhode Island on Nov. 13.
THE OPPONENT
- Cheek was the CAA's Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts in the win over Maine two weeks ago.
- He completed 29 of his 37 passes for 332 yards and three touchdowns in the 33-23 win.
- He also ran for a score.
- Cheek has passed for at least 300 yards in three of Elon's games this year.
- He has passed for 7,358 yards with 45 touchdowns and 18 interceptions in his career.
- McKinley Witherspoon has scored four of Elon's six rushing touchdowns.
- Bryson Daughtry has caught three touchdown passes and six players have caught at least one.
- Jackson Parham leads the receivers with 86.2 yards per game.
- Linebacker Devonte Chandler leads the team with 42 tackles.
Players Mentioned
Saturday, October 17
Sunday, October 04
Saturday, September 19
Sunday, September 13