Elkhart Runs Over Leon

Big Plays Key to 40-14 Victory

By Will Johnson
Messenger Reporter

ELKHART – The Elkhart Elks welcomed the Leon Cougars to Jerry Ives Memorial Stadium for their home opener of the 2017 season on Friday night. The Cougars have had the Elks number for the past several years, but the tables were turned this year as the Elks scored 21 unanswered points in the first half and tacked on 19 more in the second half to walk off the field with a 40-14 victory.

The Elks won the coin toss and deferred until the second half. That meant that Leon started with the ball but despite a good kickoff return out to the 45 yard line, the Cougars were forced into a three and out situation.

After the Elks took possession at their own 22, they mounted a 78 yard drive capped by a Landry Mays 10 yard TD run at the 7:08 mark of the first quarter.  Colton McSwane knocked the extra point home to give the Elks an early 7-0 lead.

On Leon’s second possession of the game, the Cougars started at their own 29 yard line. They kept the ball on the ground with QB Peyton Pruett guiding the Cougars down the field. Leon moved inside the Elkhart red zone, but on fourth and eight from the 17, Pruett’s pass fell incomplete and Elkhart took over on downs.

Neither team could generate much in the way of offense for the remainder of the quarter as the first period ended with Elkhart still up by seven.

It looked like the score might remain that way until halftime until a Leon punt turned into points for the Elks. The Cougars were pinned deep in their own territory by the Elks and were forced to punt.

Elkhart’s Trent Huff fielded the ball near his own 40 and as he broke up the home sideline, he was upended and lost control of the ball. Fortunately for the Elks, Demarkus Ray was able to scoop up the loose pigskin and rumbled 50 yards down the field for Elkhart’s second touchdown of the half. McSwane’s PAT was good and with 4:58 remaining in the first half, the Elks extended their lead to 14-0.

The Cougars next possession ended in disaster as Pruett was blown up at the end of an eight yard run by Ryan Lindsay. Pruett was being drug down from behind by Nate Bell when Lindsay lowered the boom and separated Pruett from the ball. John Ashford recovered the fumble and scampered all the way down to the Leon 20 yard line before he was tackled.

From there, Mays picked up 19 yards on two runs to move the ball down to the one yard line. Ashford took it the rest of the way on a one yard plunge for six with 3:03 left in the half. McSwane’s extra point was good and the Elks closed out the first half up a score of 21-0.

After the halftime festivities concluded, the Elks opened the second half with possession of the ball.  Elkhart marched down the field once again and at the 7:48 mark of the third, Huff slipped around the left end of the line on a jet sweep and scored from six yards out to make the score 27-0.

Leon finally broke into the scoring column on their ensuing possession when Pruett connected with Nathan McCoslin on a 53 yard scoring strike to cut the Elks’ lead to 27-6.

The Elks struck back, however, as Mays marched the team down the field. Huff plowed through the middle of the line from a yard out for his second TD of the game and after the PAT, Elkhart had extended their lead to 34-6 with 2:23 left in the third.

As the fourth quarter began, the Elks started to milk the clock but added a late score on Ashford’s 25 yard romp to increase their lead to 40-6.

The Cougars, to their credit, never quit and Pruett crossed the goal line from a yard out and then found Justin Massey on a fade route for the two point conversion to make the final score 40-14.

After the game, Coach Sam Wells commented on his team’s performance.

“We had lost three in a row to Leon so we finally got that gorilla off of our backs. Leon is a young team. They lost 18 seniors from last year and they had a lot of young players on their team tonight. They’re young and we came out and played well,” he said.

The Elks amassed over 300 yards on the ground against the Cougars and Wells said the biggest reason for that was the play of the offensive line.

“Number one, our offensive line is really good and we have some good young backs. Our QB (Landry Mays) picked up a big chunk of that yardage and then sophomore John Ashford came in and had a huge game for us. We also had a freshman in RJ Moore who ran the ball really well and then Trent Huff also ran the ball well. We have a lot of kids who can run the ball well,” the coach said.

“It was a good win and we’re excited,” Wells added.

The Elks will travel to Troup next week for a game against the Troup Tigers. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 15.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].