ELKS LOOK TO START SEASON WITH WIN AGAINST SHILOH CHRISTIAN FRIDAY

Last year, the Elkins Elks went 9-3 and spent the last half of their season dominating their competition before being eliminated from the state playoffs in the second round. The team lost 17 seniors to graduation, but that doesn’t mean the players don’t have the same winning outlook this season that they did last year. “As far as our expectations, we try to set that bar pretty high,” Elkins Elks Coach Chad Harbison said. “We had a real good season last year and graduated a lot of kids, but we also have a lot of guys returning that had significant playing time last year.” The team, which Hooten’s ranked second in 1-3A, behind Clinton, and 15th in 3A, will return six starters this year – three on the offensive line and three on the defensive line – amid 11 seniors. Returning players Harbison said he expects a lot out of this year include wide receiver Lane Evans, linebacker and wide receiver JJ Miller and sophomore Quinn McClain filling in at quarterback. “[McClain] actually played a pretty significant amount last year,” Harbison said. “He appeared in five varsity games last year at quarterback as a ninth grader, so he’s been on the field a bit.” With so many seniors graduating, Harbison said he doesn’t expect his team to blow out the competition the way it did last year (in their nine victories, the Elks won by an average of 37 points), but he still expects big things. “We were really good on defense a year ago, but we had a lot of seniors on that front,” Harbison said. “That’s probably the biggest reason why we had so much success so early, just because we were so good on defense. I don’t know that you can expect to have a season like that. Our expectations are high, but having games go like some of those games went last year for us ... I think we’re going to have a lot more close games.” The Elks will get their first taste of competition this Friday, Sept. 1, on the road against Shiloh Christian, a team that defeated the Elks 35-22 in the season opener last year. The Saints are ranked third in the 1-4A and 15th in 4A by Hooten’s.

ELKS LOOK TO START SEASON WITH WIN AGAINST SHILOH CHRISTIAN FRIDAY

Photo Credit: Preston Tolliver

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