No matter what kind of season the University of Maine’s football team is having, Homecoming has been good to the Black Bears in recent years.
Graduate student quarterback Carter Peevy threw two touchdown passes and ran for another as the Black Bears won their ninth straight Homecoming game, 35-14, over the Elon Phoenix at Morse Field in Alfond Stadium.
Graduate student wide receiver and Harvard University transfer Scott Woods returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown and redshirt freshman running back Rashawn Marshall ran 61 yards for another TD as the Black Bears improved to 4-4 overall with their fourth consecutive win.
UMaine is now 3-1 in the Coastal Athletic Association.
Elon fell to 4-5 and 2-3, respectively.
The Black Bears spotted the Phoenix the game’s opening touchdown before responding with 28 unanswered points to take control of the game.
Peevy threw two second-quarter touchdown passes to give the Black Bears a 14-7 lead at halftime.
Junior running back Jimmyll Williams had given the Phoenix a 7-0 lead with a 17-yard touchdown scamper in the first period.
But Peevy tossed a 16-yard touchdown pass to redshirt sophomore tight end Jake Kucera with 6:50 left in the half and threaded the needle on a 24-yard strike to senior wide receiver Gianni Rossitto with 1:16 remaining.
It was the first career touchdown reception for Kucera and Rossitto.
The Black Bears expanded the lead to 21-7 in the third period when Peevy bulled into the end zone from the one-yard line to finish off a five-play, 59-yard drive.
Woods made it 28-7 early with 11:35 left in the fourth quarter with his scintillating punt return as he raced across the field from left to right, tucked in behind his blockers and then burst free to the end zone.
The Phoenix answered 1:48 later when quarterback Landen Clark threw a 15-yard TD pass to Isaiah Fuhrmann.
But Marshall sewed up the win 1:27 later with his 61-yard TD run as he broke through the middle and then cut to the right and outraced the Elon secondary.
Peevy finished the day with 24 completions in 34 attempts for 260 yards and a touchdown.
During the four-game winning streak, he has completed 79 of 112 passes for 1,059 yards and seven touchdowns with just one interception.
Marshall carried the ball 15 times for a game-high 141 yards, his second consecutive game with over 140 rushing yards. He carried the ball 19 times for 146 yards in UMaine’s 20-13 win over Merrimack two weeks ago.
UMaine was off last weekend.
Woods caught a game-high six passes for 69 yards. It is his fourth game with at least six receptions this season.
Trevin Ewing and Elijah Smalls each had three catches for 32 and 30 yards, respectively.
Linebacker Christian Thomas had a game-high nine tackles for the Black Bears, free safety Devin Vaught had eight tackles and an interception and defensive end Chris Bacon had seven tackles. The Black Bears sacked Clark five times and limited the Phoenix to 231 total yards.
Maine had 409 total yards.
Clark completed 16 of 23 passes for 128 yards and was intercepted once. He carried the ball 18 times for 42 yards. Williams ran for 48 yards on seven carries.
Fuhrmann had three receptions for 31 yards and Zimere Winston had three for 21 yards.
Linebackers Brodie Carroll and Jesse Powell each had eight tackles.
Elon did not have a sack.
UMaine will host Stony Brook at 1 p.m. next Saturday while Elon is off next weekend and will entertain Rhode Island at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8.
