Micah Ford (20) celebrates after scoring a touchdown at Stanford Stadium against the Elon University Phoenix on Saturday night. (Photo: Stanford Athletics)
By Maggie Akins
Palo Alto, CA — In the first-ever matchup in Stanford football history, the Cardinal beat the Elon Phoenix 34-7 at Stanford Stadium on Saturday evening during their annual Reunion Homecoming game.
Succeeding in striving to create explosive plays on both the run and pass game tonight was also a step forward for the Cardinal offense.
“While it’s good to get a win, there’s plenty to clean up,” head coach Tavita Pritchard said.
The Cardinal entered the matchup looking to prove something on both the offense and defense side of the ball. Following two tough road losses at No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 21 Wake Forest, in which they were outscored 115-10, the Cardinal aimed to return to their fans with a stronger defense. They did just that.
The main focus for the Cardinal for the remainder of their season is to keep their consistency flowing. They saw pieces of that tonight as junior running back Micah Ford brought home four rushing touchdowns and the defensive unit silenced the Phoenix offense to seven points.
The Cardinal offense had their moment thanks to Ford. They tallied their second-highest scoring game of the season with 34 points. Ford ran for 179 yards with four touchdowns, his longest being an 81-yard rushing touchdown in the third quarter. Pritchard gave flowers to the offensive line and Ford for this record-tying evening.
“Indicative of the group. Playing better up front, blocking for him, creating some schemes and him (Ford) seeing it,” Pritchard said. “Hats off to the entire unit, five is one in those combinations, hats off to him too, proud of him, proud of that whole unit.”
“I feel great; it was honestly a team effort, and it shows what we can do along the stretch as long as we execute,” Ford said.
Despite the offense, the defense accomplished the goals they echoed during practice this week.
Pritchard spoke about how he expressed to his squad throughout this week leading up to the matchup that they need to emphasize being gap sound and playing gap control against the Phoenix offense.
Throughout the season, the Cardinal defense has managed to force six turnovers and tally up four sacks this season, along with three interceptions and three fumble recoveries.
Against Phoenix, the Cardinals defense shut down Elon’s receivers, forcing many incomplete passes from TJ Crews IV. Crews IV threw for 52 passing yards, going 8-of-27 on his passing attempts.
To add another W in the win column is just the beginning, however. Now, the Cardinal need to be consistent and carry on with their urge to compete.
The Cardinal scored 14 points in both the second and third quarter, and to have that after half is what Pritchard has been preaching to his team, and it showed on the field tonight.
“That’s what it looks like, that’s what it feels like, to strain, to have the energy, to have focus,” Pritchard said. “Our guys have a willingness and a desire to play hard; sometimes it is just a matter of focus and trying to catch them doing well and pointing that out.”
Up next, the Cardinal will be at home again, hosting NC State on October 23 at 7:30 p.m., streaming on ESPN.
