Elgin’s passing attack dooms Ardmore

ELGIN—There are some great books about the theory of defensive football and many of the best high school coaches across the Midwest have been able to adjust and figure out ways to stop teams from having success be it stopping the run or the pass.

Thus far 11 teams have tried to figure out ways to stop Elgin’s explosive offense and thus far nobody has been able to stop the Owls, or even slow them down on a consistent basis.

Friday in the first round of the Class 4A playoffs, Ardmore opted to try and limit the Owls’ rushing game, throwing seven and eight defenders within a couple of yards of the line of scrimmage. And while the Tigers were able to slow down the Elgin rushing attack, they still were on the short end of a 43-0 score at the Owls Nest much to the delight of a huge hometown crowd.

With the shutout wins, the Owls will be home again next Friday when Sallisaw comes to Elgin for a second-round battle in Class 4A. Sallisaw edged Grove, 27-26, in overtime Friday.

In the first half the Tigers were able to hold the Owls and powerful running back Ritson Meyer to 49 yards on seven carries but all Elgin did was just use the forward pass to do its damage.

With the Owls’ big, physical offensive line providing a clean pocket all game, quarterback Tres Lorah just stood in the backfield and connected on 11-of-13 passing attempts in the first half for 195 yards and three touchdowns. And, Meyer got into the fun, taking a pitch from Lorah, running to his right and then launching a pass to Josh Adesola who was wide open downfield with no defender within 20 yards and he finished the 41-yard scoring strike with 4:04 left in the half to give the Owls total command.

“Castro (Offensive Coordinator Adam) made that call,” Elgin Head Coach Chalmer Wyatt said. “We ran it earlier to set it up and when we called it there it really caught them off-guard. We had a good punt and were in plus territory so Adam called it and it worked just like we wanted.”

Wyatt said Ardmore was trying to throw some different looks at the Owls in the first half but his offense wasn’t fazed.

“They gave us a lot of different looks that we hadn’t seen,” Wyatt said. “They were rolling their coverages to the strength of our formation and that gave Brody (Morrison) a chance to make some big catches and he had a great game.”

Morrison had two catches, one for 28 and the other for 49 and both went for touchdowns. The 28-yard scoring strike came at the 5:59 mark of the second quarter to run the score to 22-0 and after the Elgin defense shut down Ardmore on three plays, the Owls were at the Tigers’ 41 and that’s when the halfback pass caught the Tigers flat-footed.

The teams traded turnovers in a three-play sequence before an Ardmore punt left the Owls 41 yards away from the goal-line with 2:00 on the clock. Lorah got great protection on the play and he fired a strike to Morrison that just made it over the Ardmore defender and into Morrison’s hands and he ran the final eight yards to the end zone with 1:32 remaining in the half.

The defense had another sterling effort, holding the Tigers to just four first downs in the first half; one of those via penalty. The visitors had 34 yards rushing and 10 yards passing in the first half and while they did finish with 75 rushing yards and 60 passing, most of that coming with the Elgin reserves going most of the second half.

“Our defense did another great job and we pretty much stymied their offense in the first half with our first bunch,” Wyatt said. “I thought Colyn (Donnelly) punted well tonight and our special teams did a good job. We have been able to keep people pinned deep despite using the pooch. We have some guys who really get downfield and make plays on our kickoff coverage group.”

The Owls had two-way standout Shay Spencer back in the lineup after suffering a dislocated elbow against Clinton two weeks ago and the big senior was all over the field, making a host of tackles including at least two sacks. He and the rest of the starters played two series in the third quarter and then hit the bench for good.

Meyer wound up with 98 yards rushing on 12 carries, including touchdowns on runs of 19 and 1 yards. The 19-yard scamper came on the first possession of the game as the Owls were able to recover an onside kick at their own 43 and march downfield to score on eight plays. On that run the junior back broke three tackles and was not to be denied to give the Owls the lead. And for good measure Meyer got the two-point PAT run out of the Wildcat formation for a quick 8-0 lead.

Ardmore had its best drive of the night on its first possession, moving from its own 22 to a first down at the Elgin 45 on seven plays. But that was the end of the line. Ardmore got three yards on its first two carries to leave the Tigers with a third-and-4 from the Elgin 39.

But the visitors were unable to complete a pass on third down and on 4th-and-4 quarterback K’Drien Miller was stopped one yard short on a big hit by Meyer.

The Owls scored in seven plays, the payoff coming when Lorah found tight end Adam Eaton on a drag route and he split a pair of defenders and raced to the end zone to complete the 42-yard scoring play. Lorah broke the season TD passing record Friday to go along with the career TD record he broke several weeks ago.

Adan Delgado added five PAT kicks but he missed a 36-yard field goal midway through the fourth quarter.