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ELON, N.C. — DeVonte Dedmon called what he saw “gold.”
That gold was a punt bouncing his way midway through the first quarter.
The Warhill High graduate fielded it like a shortstop and took it 70 yards for a touchdown, giving No. 12 William and Mary a three-touchdown lead and setting the tone in what became a 34-13 victory over Elon on Saturday at Rhodes Stadium.
Mikal Abdul-Saboor and Kendell Anderson each had first-quarter rushing touchdowns, and Steve Cluley completed 22 of 32 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown as the Tribe ran its win streak to five games, its longest since October 2010.
The punt return was the added spark after those two rushing touchdowns.
David Petroni’s rugby punt bounced to Dedmon around midfield. Dedmon grabbed it and cut to the right sideline. He went mostly untouched and was aided by a massive block Mike Barta laid on Petroni, the last man for Dedmon to beat.
“It was smooth. It came right to me,” Dedmon said. “I just had to get it and go. They look to me for that kind of stuff.”
With that, W&M led 21-0 just nine minutes in.
It’s the first time a W&M player has returned a punt for a touchdown since B.W. Webb took one 91 yards in September 2012.
“DeVonte, I’ve been waiting for him to break another one here before long,” W&M coach Jimmye Laycock said. “He’s a game-breaking type of player.”
W&M (7-2, 5-1 Colonial Athletic Association), which tied Richmond for the CAA lead, marched downfield with ease on the opening drive of the game, going 69 yards on nine plays and ending with a 19-yard Anderson touchdown run.
The Tribe, coming off a 44-41 victory over then-No. 9 James Madison, recovered a fumble two plays into Elon’s first drive and turned that into a 1-yard Adbul-Saboor touchdown.
W&M added a pair of Nick Dorka field goals in the second quarter for a 27-0 halftime advantage.
“We put ourselves in a position to be playing big games in November now,” Cluley said. “We didn’t want to come out here and let a team we’re better than hang around. We wanted to come out quick and set a tone.”
W&M extended its lead when Cluley found Matt Sniezek for a 33-yard touchdown late in the third quarter. It came three plays after Zach Fetters toed the sideline to intercept Connor Christiansen’s pass.
Elon (3-6, 2-4) outgained W&M 388-371, with more than half of the Phoenix yards coming in the second half.
Christiansen, who entered on the third series of the game, completed 28 of 45 passes for a career-best 310 yards.
The Phoenix hadn’t scored at home since September until Malcolm Summers ran in from 2 yards in the third quarter. He had runs of 25 and 11 yards that drive, and Christiansen hit Demetrius Oliver for a 38-yard pass that put Elon in the red zone.
Summers scored on a 2-yard run in the fourth after Alexander Dawson blocked a field-goal try.
“Too many mistakes against a good football team,” Elon coach Rich Skrosky said. “You go down 21-0, and that’s a hard hole to dig out of, yet alone the 12th team in the country.”