ELKINS 19, LAVACA 7 Elkins passes its way past Lavaca
Posted on Thursday, October 2, 2008
ELKINS - After being bullied on both sides of the ball for much of the first half Friday night, the Elkins Elks capitalized on big plays from the passing game to take down Lavaca, 19-7.
The opening half was simple. Elkins (4-0, 1-0 1-3 A ) couldn't run the ball and it couldn't stop the run. The Golden Arrows ran 20 more plays than the Elks and by late in the second quarter, Elkins had negative yardage and no first downs. Then the game turned on a dime.
Trailing 7-0 in the waning moments, Elkins QB Drew Clark hit Hunter Guffey for 59 yards and three plays later, Clark's sneak knotted the game at halftime. Momentum carried over into the second half for Elkins as five plays netted 20 yards or more, including a pair that led to two fourth-quarter scores.
"It was a Jekyll and Hyde game," Elkins coach Aaron Clark said. "What hurt us early was field position but we struggled. We made some adjustments at halftime and we were a different team in the second half offensively."
The Golden Arrows marched up and down the field and scored on their first possession but two subsequent drives ended on failed fourth-down plays in Elkins'territory. Using 22 plays on two drives and coming up empty deflated Lavaca and the going got much tougher as the Elks defense bowed up to the challenge.
"It hurts whenever you can't put points on the board and it comes back to bite you," Lavaca coach Mark Headley said.
Lavaca (1-3, 0-1 ) opened up with an impressive 11-play drive good for 51 yards. Steffan Espinoza and Tyler Headley did most of the damage with a three-yardsand-acloud-of-dust mentality. For the game, Lavaca's longest play from scrimmage was 14 yards. Espinoza got the Golden Arrows'only touchdown on a 4-yard plunge to give Lavaca a 7-0 lead.
Elkins continued to go three-and-out and Lavaca continued pounding Elkins'defensive front for three and four yards at a time. Once Clark hit Guffey, however, Elkins'passing attack put Lavaca's secondary on its heels.
The teams exchanged turnovers in the third but the 7-7 score held up going into the fourth quarter. Elkins put together a nice drive late in the third and scored the goahead touchdown two plays into the final period. Clark hit Bailey Parrish for 24 yards and the senior QB polished off the 68-yard drive with a 37-yard strike to Guffey.
"[Guffey's ] catch in the end zone was just an outstanding catch. He had a great game. He's a great receiver," Aaron Clark said The Elks put the game away with - of all things - a long run. Zach Wood broke through the line and it was a foot race that Lavaca didn't win until Wood was at the Golden Arrows' 5-yard line. Steven Whitney rambled in on the next play to set the 19-7 final score.
Clark completed 11 of 22 passes for 210 yards with most of the damage coming in the third and fourth quarters. Guffey led the receiving corps with five catches for 157 yards. For Lavaca, Espinoza netted 92 rushing yards and Headley added 47.
Elkins travels to Lincoln this week.
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