Elks hope to spoil Wolves' homecoming
Posted on Friday, October 3, 2008
Elkins head coach Aaron Clark never likes for his team to be the guest for a homecoming. It’s just too unpredictable.
“ With homecoming you never know how the kids are going to react, ” Clark said. “ Sometimes they are really fired up, but other times, they can be lackadaisical and worn down after all the activities. ”
But the Elks (4-0, 1-0 ) are the Lincoln Wolves’ (0-4, 0-1 ) homecoming opponent at 7 p. m. Friday.
The game pits squads that are going in different directions with the Elks owning a spotless record, while the Wolves have yet to earn a victory. But Clark said it can be dangerous to get too caught up in records.
“ Against Pea Ridge, Huntsville and Lavaca, we’ve scored six of our eight touchdowns in the fourth quarter, ” Clark said. “ That tells me we are in good shape and play better late in the game and that we don’t get down on ourselves as a team. ”
But Clark would like for the Elks to play better early in the game to make things easier on themselves and him.
“ We’ve had our struggles on offense, ” Clark said. “ We’ve had penalties and little mistakes and setbacks hold us back. We’ve done a good job of eventually overcoming them so far, but we really need to take advantage of our opportunities. ”
Clark has attempted to solidify his offense with a few moves to put more experience on the offensive front, but his linemen are still learning to work with each other. The Elks’ rushing game is still not where he would like it to be at the midpoint of the season.
Clark was pleased with the passing of quarterback Drew Clark in the second half of the Elks’ victory over Lavaca. The younger Clark completed 8 of 11 passes in the second half.
The Elks made some changes at halftime that opened up the passing game for the younger Clark.
Coach Clark complimented the play of receivers Hunter Guffey, Bailey Parrish, Steven Whitney and Blake Stills.
“ They have all played well and it’s good for us to be able to spread the football around to different guys. It just makes us tougher to defend. ”
The Elks’ saving grace, though, has been their defense, which have kept opponents bottled up all season and thus kept Elkins in all of their ballgames going into the fourth quarter.
“ Our linebackers had led the way, ” Clark said. “ I knew we would be good there with Dakotah Parsley and Andrew Brink and Steven Whitney. Steven played a great game last week. He had 16 tackles and I think three for losses. ”
But Clark has also been encouraged by the play of long and lean Kyle Turner (6-4, 160 ) at defensive end.
“ Kyle is long and very tough to block because of his moves, ” Clark said. “ One of our big plays came when he was rushing and being held by two guys. That penalty was as good as a sack. ”
Elkins secondary has also been keeping pace.
“ We’ve gotten really good play from our secondary, ” Clark said. “ They’ve got a mindset not to give anything up. ”
Lavaca was 1 of 10 passing against Elkins for -3 yards. Jacob Evans knocked down two passes.
Clark also applauded the tenacity of defensive tackle Mitchell Traxler.
“ He was blocked to the ground, but got up and made his way to the quarterback for a big sack, ” Clark said. “ We’ve been really getting a good team effort on defense. They have all done a good job. ”
As for Lincoln, Clark is concerned about the Wolves’ big nose guard Tommy Daughtery.
“ He’s a big, strong active kid, who can move and make plays, ” Clark said. “ You have to take him into account. ”
Offensively, he believes the Wolves have improved after moving Justin Carr from quarterback to the slotback position.
“ He’s probably their best athlete and with him away from the quarterback spot, they are able to get him the ball in a number of different ways, ” Clark said. “ It looks like it was a good move for them.
“ This game is going to be a challenge for us. We need to continue to improve our play, particularly on offense in the first half. ”
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