CHARLOTTE — Charlotte’s demons from a loss last year to North Carolina Central were exorcised a week ago. The 49ers scored 40 unanswered points at North Carolina Central. They escaped Durham with a 40-28 victory after the Eagles’ attempted a furious fourth-quarter comeback.
It was a win that taught Charlotte (3-0) a lesson as it tries to build toward a successful season before the move to the Football Bowl Subdivision.
“I feel like we sat back and enjoyed it a little bit at the beginning. Then we have to understand the game isn’t done until the clock hits zero in the fourth quarter,” receiver Trent Bostick said.
The 49ers try to stay unbeaten this week with a road trip to Elon. The Phoenix (0-2) were blown away in the opener at Duke and lost 17-12 at home last week against North Carolina A&T.
“(Elon is) going to present some good challenges for us, again, on the road,” head coach Brad Lambert said.
Trying to end the three-game winning streak will be Phoenix linebackers Jonathan Spain and Jon Silas. The duo has 35 combined tackles in two games with Silas having one sack and Spain one quarterback hurry.
There’s also Elon quarterabck Mike Quinn. He averages 221.5 yards per game, has been picked off twice, and thrown no touchdowns.
Stepping into a starting role is linebacker Karrington King, a redshirt freshman. He played in every game this year and forced a fumble in the shutout of Johnson C. Smith two weeks ago.
“He’s just done everything you could ever ask a guy to do, and it’s kind of his time, and he’s ready for this time,” Lambert said.
Follow Adam Houston on Twitter at @AdamRHouston.