UNH 30, Elon 23

DURHAM – Senior quarterback Brooks Bentley threw for 301 yards and two touchdown passes as the University of New Hampshire football team defeated Elon, 30-23, in Saturday afternoon’s Homecoming game at Wildcat Stadium.

Bentley completed 26-of-34 passes for 301 yards with TD throws of 27 yards to senior running back Joquez Smith and 15 yards to Drew Dawson.

Senior wide receiver Ja’Carree Kelly had a game-high nine catches for 82 yards. Running back Myles Thomason had 12 carries for 36 yards.

Sophomore linebacker Trevor Barry  finished with a team-high eight tackles and the defense recorded three takeaways on interceptions by grad safety Jackson Stone (Lebanon, N.H.), junior cornerback Sean Webb and sophomore safety Cohen Cook. Webb was also credited with seven tackles and Stone had game-high two pass breakups.

Senior Barry Kleinpeter, in his first game taking a snap at quarterback since the 2024 season, scored the game’s first points on a 1-yard keeper.

Lucas Glassburn had a perfect day with field goals of 22, 27 and 28 yards and three PAT kicks.

Elon’s Kamerin McDowell-Moore rushed for 273 yards and two touchdowns, Elijah Guttman threw for 192 yards and Luke Barnes made all three field goal attempts.

FIRST QUARTER

• At 12:25, Kleinpeter scored a touchdown on a one-yard rush after Elon muffed a punt that was recovered by UNH’s Logan Perez at the Elon 1.
• Elon’s next drive ended abruptly when Webb intercepted a pass at the UNH 41 and had a 14-yard return to set up 1^st down at the Elon45.
• Glassburn’s 27-yard field goal capped an 8-play, 35 yard drive that gave UNH a 10-0 advantage at 7:22.
• The Phoenix answered with a 7-play, 51-yard drive and 42-yard field goal to trim the deficit to 10-3 at 4:31.
• Glassburn connected on a 28-yard field goal on the last play of the first quarter to reestablish a double digit lead of 13-3.

SECOND QUARTER 

• Elon scored its first touchdown of the game at 11:28 on McDowell-Moore’s five-yard run to live the visitors within 13-10.
• Glassburn brought the score up to 16-10 on a successful 22-yard field goal attempt with 1:07 remaining in the first half. Carry’s 30-yard reception had set up 1^st-and-goal for the Wildcats.

THIRD QUARTER

• Smith scored UNH’s third touchdown of the game at 9:38 when he juggled the ball at the Elon 3 and pulled it in for a 27-yard score to advance the score to 23-10. That long pass play was preceded by Bentley’s 24-yard run.
• Elon retaliated by scoring a 40-yard touchdown on 4^th-and-1 at 7:49 by Kamerin McDowell-Moore to narrow the margin to 23-17.
• Elon advanced to the UNH 4 but Mason Smith stopped the Phoenix for four-yard loss on third down to force Barnes’ 25-yard field goal at 2:48 to make the score 23-20.

FOURTH QUARTER

• A 28-yard completion from Bentley to Ryan Ricketti late in the third quarter led to Danson’s 15-yard touchdown followed by a successful PAT attempt from Glassburn to reestablish a double-digit lead, 30-20 at 14:55.
• Elon brought the score to 30-23 on Barnes’ successful 36-yard field goal attempt at 12:17.
• The UNH defense held Elon scoreless the remainder of the game for the win.
• On the last drive of the game, Elon started on its own 17 with 57 seconds remaining. The Phoenix advanced to the UNH 7 in the closing seconds and the third-down play was initially called a TD, but was reviewed and deemed an incomplete pass. With two seconds on the clock, Guttman’s pass toward the right sideline fell incomplete to end the game.

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