Elks shut out in home opener
By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
Relax, Elkhorn. It is one game in a long season.
The Elkhorn Area High School football team lost 35-0 Aug. 21 at home to non-conference foe Waukesha North in the season opener for both teams.
“Nobody could stop them,” Elks coach Tom Lee said. “We had a hard time establishing anything, too. We had a hard time being physical with them up front.”
The Elks (0-1) get another chance for their first win of the season Friday when they travel to East Troy for a non-conference matchup with the Trojans.
East Troy (0-1) lost 42-40 Aug. 21 in its season opener against the Comets at Delavan. Lee said the Trojans went for the winning score from the Comets’ five-yard line with less than 30 seconds left in regulation. The Delavan-Darien defense stopped the Trojans for the win.
The Trojans and Elks are in their fourth season of early season, non-conference play. Elkhorn played Cudahy in non-conference play in 2013 and 2014.
Lee said Cudahy opted to not play the Elks this season, and said he did not know the reasoning behind Cudahy’s decision. The Elks scheduled Waukesha North to fill the void in their non-conference schedule.
The Northstars play in the Waukesha County-based Classic 8 Conference against Arrowhead, Mukwonago, Waukesha Catholic Memorial, Kettle Moraine, Muskego, Waukesha South and Waukesha West. The Classic 8 is considered by many prep sports observers to be Wisconsin’s finest football conference.
North did not win a game last season in Classic 8 competition and finished with an overall record of 2-7.
“I told the kids they’re looking forward to playing us, because this might be one of the few opportunities they have of having some success this season,” Lee said.
The Northstars (1-0) led 21-0 at halftime, and scored 14 more points in the third quarter.
The Elks rushed for more than 100 yards against North, and twice drove into Northstars’ territory. The Elks threw an interception in the second half on North’s two-yard line.
Elkhorn once drove to the North five-yard line in the second half and went for the first down on fourth and one, but came up short.
“I think we got the first down, and we didn’t get even get a measurement from the officials,” Lee said. “We got inside their territory twice and we could have come away with two scores.”
The Elks finished with two interceptions, a fumble, three pass interference calls, two illegal procedure calls and were once penalized for holding.
Lee said a positive outcome of the North game is that the Elks faced a spread offense, which both East Troy and Delavan-Darien run. The Elks open their Southern Lakes Conference schedule Sept. 4 at home against Delavan-Darien.
“I think it’s going to prepare us for these offenses,” Lee said. “We’ve got two teams coming up that run the same type of offense. That’s the positive thing – it’s going to prepare us for what we’re going to see.”
