Both the Decatur Daily and the Athens News Courier have great articles about the game last night. It is well worth picking a copy of both of them up. If the Athens is sold out in Elkmont, you can pick up a copy at the newspaper office until Thursday.
Mike Tucker ran for 124 yards, including 120 in the first half, and Zeb Pankey scored both an offensive and defensive touchdown as Elkmont celebrated Senior Night with a 27-10 Class 4A, Region 8 win over Rogers. The Red Devils (6-2, 4-2) piled up 292 yards on the ground and held the Pirates to just nine first downs and 149 total yards.
"Our goal every game is to control the line of scrimmage," fourth-year Elkmont head coach Sean Holt said. "I feel like we did that tonight, especially in the first half."
The sophomore Pankey got the Red Devils on the board first with a 3-yard touchdown run that capped a 7-play, 78-yard drive. Alexis Hernandez tacked on the extra point to make it 7-0 with 2:26 left in the first quarter. On the next offensive play, Pankey stepped in front of an errant pass from Rogers' quarterback Tristan Dailey and streaked 26 yards down the sidelines to push the lead to 14.
Rogers cut into the lead on its first possession of the second quarter when Bryant Wallace was good on a 47-yard field goal.
It was as close as the Pirates would get, as Hernandez matched field goals with a 34 yarder just before the half to put the Red Devils out front 17-3 at the midway point.
Elkmont extended its lead to 24 points through three quarters on a halfback pass from Jared Bailey to Noah Sharp and a 46-yard field goal from Hernandez.
Freshman Tikeathon Harvey scored on a 1-yard run late in the fourth quarter for Rogers' only touchdown.
"We've been stressing to them to close out games," Holt said. "We played hard until the end tonight. Our seniors have led us this year and it was a good way for them to out on Senior Night."
It was the first six-win season for Elkmont since 2011 and the Red Devils are set to snap a three-year playoffs drought. Elkmont travels to East Lawrence on Friday.
SOURCE: DECATUR DAILY
ELKMONT – Zeb Pankey scored a rushing touchdown and returned an interception for a touchdown to lead Elkmont past Rogers Friday. Mike Tucker ran 10 times for 114 yards, and the defense didn’t allow a touchdown until late in the game for a 27-10 victory that clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2011.
Sixteen Elkmont seniors were victorious in their final game at Boss Hill Stadium, as the win (Elkmont’s fourth in its last five games overall), along with Deshler’s victory against Brooks, clinched a playoff berth for the Red Devils (6-2, 4-2). Rogers dropped to 2-6 overall and 1-5 in region play.
“It feels good to guarantee ourselves a winning season,” said Elkmont head coach Sean Holt, whose team won a combined five games the last two years. “Rogers is a greedy, hard-nosed football team, and we had to find some plays which worked for us. Our guys played hard, and even though it wasn’t our best performance of the year, it was a good win for senior night. We fought through the emotions which go along with it.”
Elkmont finished with 345 yards of total offense while holding Rogers to 158 yards (79 each half). It would’ve been even more had Eli Hobbs’ 67-yard touchdown run in the beginning of the third quarter not been nullified due to a penalty. It prevented him from being the team’s second 100-yard rusher behind a strong night of blocking from the likes of guards Brent Stovall and Kody Clark, tackles Eli Vining and Travis Riggs, center Hunter Brazeal and tight end Joshua Carter to the tune of 289 rushing yards.
The Red Devils still came through in the clutch with Bailey’s 23-yard halfback touchdown pass to Noah Sharp for all the momentum. Alexis Hernandez’s second field goal, a 47-yarder, pushed the lead to 27-3.
“Our defense did a good job of not giving up the big play,” Holt said. “Our guys played well, tackled hard and executed our game plan. We haven’t played with a lot of leads in the past couple of years, but our guys continue to do a better job of playing with the lead and doing what they can to finish games.”
SOURCE: ATHENS NEWS COURIER
Have to have a picture of the always fun CREW - of course, they were there to cheer on the Red Devils
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