Elgin ends nine-year playoff drought
The brief shower that fell moments before Elgin kicked off to visiting Metea Valley served as foreshadowing: Elgin's playoff drought was about to end.
The Maroons broke free of tied game at halftime by exploding for 43 second-half points to blow out the first-year program from Metea Valley, 50-14, at Memorial Field Friday.
The victory in the Upstate Eight Conference crossover elevated Elgin's record to 6-3, thereby guaranteeing the Maroons a playoff berth for the first time since 2001.
In a season of big victories including the Town Jug game against rival Larkin for the program's 500th win Friday's was undoubtedly the biggest.
“It's the kids and the staff,” said Elgin coach and alum Dave Bierman. “We do the same thing all the time. It's a matter of whether the kids make it work or not. It's a good bunch of kids. I'm just so proud of them.
“Our program needed this. With the (District U-46 budget) cuts and everything else, there's a lot of negativity around and it's easy to feel sorry for yourself. But these kids responded very well. Hopefully, this will generate interest in the program. We needed a shot in the arm right now, program-wise.”
The Elgin offense needed a shot in the arm production wise. It's only scoring play in the first half came from junior Dennis Moore.
Playing safety, Moore intercepted a Metea Valley pass at his own 6-yard line early in the second quarter. Playing tailback, he turned around on the next play from scrimmage and raced 94 yards on a pitch for a touchdown.
“I just ran hard and got great blocking from Jordan (Dean),” Moore said. “I just saw the grass and ran. We've been working on the wishbone and decided to put it in this game. It really helped.”
The Mustangs (1-8) tied the game with 24 seconds left in the first half when Sam Kim scored from 2 yards out on fourth-and-goal. The Metea drive was helped by 2 personal foul penalties against Elgin, which was flagged for 9 penalties for 75 yards overall.
The Elgin offense came to life in the second half behind quarterback Lee Jackson, who sat out the first two-and-a-half quarters for violating a team rule.
With the game tied 7-7, Jackson hit Dean for a 26-yard screen pass. Moore broke off another big run 2 plays later, when he took another pitch 57 yards to the Metea Valley 8-yard line.
Moore, who finished the night with 19 carries for 213 yards, scored his second touchdown on a 4-yard burst with 5:39 left in the third quarter to give Elgin a 14-7 lead.
The Elgin defense, which limited the Mustangs to 241 total yards and 2 first downs in the second half, forced a punt and Jackson went back to work. As pocket protection broke down, he hit Devin Gilliam on 54-yard scoring play to put the Maroons on top 21-7 with 1:51 left in the third quarter.
“I saw him in trouble so I came back to him,” Gilliam said. “He got me the pass, and I just took off.”
“I saw him cut to the sideline, so I just had to hit him on the go,” Jackson said. “He did the rest for me.”
From there, the bottom fell out for the Mustangs. After they muffed a punt, Dean scored on a 10-yard pass from Jackson early in the fourth quarter. Gilliam intercepted Jarrett House's next pass and returned it 35 yards for a touchdown, and Jake Meyer capped a 7-play Elgin drive with a 1-yard plunge to make it 42-7 with 3:05 left in the game.
Metea Valley finally answered Elgin's 35-0 scoring barrage with a 3-yard run by Alex Hagemaster, but the Maroons responded with a 70-yard kickoff return by Shaiquelle Hayes for the final margin.
“It's a great feeling, amazing,” Elgin junior Dennis Moore said of making the playoffs. “It's been a long time. It's nice to get our program back to where it should be. We've been working hard all season and this is what we've been working for. Now we just have to keep it going.”
Metea Valley will look to the future.
“Hopefully, we've learned some valuable lessons,” Metea Valley coach Ted Monken said when asked to sum up the program's first season. “It's hard to know because the scoreboard tells such a different story and people on the outside don't always know what's going on. We're not making some of the improvements I'd hoped, but maybe that's just part of the year and part of the record. If we found a way to win a couple of those other games and were sitting at 3-5 at this point, maybe we approach these games a whole lot different.
“Hopefully, our kids learned their lessons, come back next fall a whole lot better and pay the price between now and August to get ready for next year.”