ELKMONT WINS ON SENIOR NIGHT

Senior Night at Boss Hill Stadium was a great way to say goodbye to our Seniors who are involved in fall sports or marching band.  The Red Devils took advantage of a momentum-swinging play on special teams to score 24 unanswered points in the second quarter. Clements had a big fourth-quarter rally but Elkmont was able to hold off the Colts, 45-31 to cap off Senior Night.

With a 7-6 lead, the Red Devils were in a fourth-and-13 situation around the 50 yard line. Eli Hobbs lined up to punt and recognized the chance for a fake.  He almost broke loose for an end zone run but was tackled before he could score.  He gained enough yards for a first down, breathing new life into the Elkmont offense. 

“That just shows the leadership and the football IQ we have on our team. I snapped our punter the ball, he saw the defense leave and he took off. That was his call all the way. We knew we needed a big play, and number 4 came through and gave it to us,” said Elkmont senior defense end Travis Riggs, who had an interception, a fumble recovery and four tackles.

Two plays after the successful fake punt, Elkmont quarterback Jordan Nelson, who opened the scoring with a 1-yard sneak in the first quarter and picked off a pass on defense, found Patrick Jobman for a 14-yard touchdown to put Elkmont ahead, 14-6. 

Hobbs, one of 13 seniors for Elkmont, made key plays in all three phases of the game at running back, linebacker and punter. He recovered a Clements fumble off a botched snap, totaled a team-high nine tackles and rushed 14 times for 117 yards and two touchdowns. His scoring runs of 10 and 16 yards on back-to-back drives in the second quarter helped Elkmont build a 31-12 halftime advantage. Elkmont senior placekicker Daniel Sanchez nailed a 33-yard field goal in the second quarter and made a PAT.

The Red Devils never trailed and had only one turnover.  They continued to score points.  Elkmont sophomore Daniel Valencia went 5-of-5 on PATs.

“Knowing this was the last football game together, we knew we had to go out big. We didn’t move the ball as well as we liked, but we were able to come up with the muffed kickoff, the fumbled punt and the interceptions,” Riggs said.

Sources: Athens News Courier