Elkins plays the spoiler, keeps record spotless
Posted on Thursday, October 9, 2008
LINCOLN - Elkins proved to be a rude guest at Lincoln's homecoming Friday night as the Elks left town with a 35-14 win. The Elks used an early goal-line stand and rolled up 465 yards of offense to keep the Wolves searching for their first win of the season.
"We've got a lot of work to do," Lincoln coach Brad Harris said. "We're not ready to call it a season. We're going to try to keep getting better out here."
Lincoln (0-5, 0-2 1-3 A ) looked to grab an early lead after Elkins missed a field goal on its opening drive. Bao Nguyen ran eight times for 81 yards on that drive alone but couldn't punch it in from inside the five on third and fourth down. From there, the game belonged to Elkins.
"We kind of get the wind taken out of our sails pretty easy. That's something we've got to learn to overcome," Harris said.
Elkins drove 99 yards after the defensive stand, converting third downs on three occasions. Drew Clark hit Weston Curry for 20 yards and three-plays later, Clark found Robert Teague for 57 yards down to Lincoln's 11. Zach Wood punched it in from there, giving Elkins a 7-0 lead.
Elkins (5-0, 2-0 ) went to the half with a 14-0 lead thanks to a late drive that started on the Elks' 19. The big blay was a 19-yard pass from Clark to Hunter Guffey with an additional 15 tacked on for a personal foul. Clark hit Guffey again for a 14-yard score with 1: 59 left.
"I thought the offense did a good job tonight. Even in the first half when we didn't get scores, we moved the ball," Elkins coach Aaron Clark said.
Elkins'passing game was hot in the opening half but the run game took over in the third quarter. Wood got 71 of his 115 yards in the third and Steven Whitney ran for 76 more, including a 3-yard touchdown run to give the Elks a 21-0 lead.
"Steven is deceiving, as far as his speed. He hits the hole quick," Aaron Clark said. "He's a two-way starter and he gets banged up but I thought he did a great job, along with Zach. We didn't set out to run the football the whole second half but once we got up 21, we wanted to eat some clock."
The Elks increased their lead to 28-0 on a 10-yard keeper by Clark but the Wolves finally found the end zone late in the third. Ezequiel Hernandez reeled off 13 yards and Nguyen did the same two plays later, this one going for a touchdown.
Freshman QB Zach Summers led Lincoln on its final scoring drive, completing a 22-yard strike to Michael Wallager and Dillon Foshe followed up with a 1-yard scoring run.
"Our problem is consistency on our offense right now," Harris said. "Taking one play off means the difference between positive and negative and that negative can put you behind the eight ball."
Elkins celebrates homecoming this week against Mansfield.
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