Elks avoid winless conference season, played well recently
By Chris Bennett
Correspondent
The Elkhorn Area High School football team avoided last place in the Southern Lakes Conference with a road win in its final game of the season.
The Elks traveled to Paddock Lake and beat Westosha Central 27-0 Oct. 16 in a SLC contest. The Falcons and Elks each entered the game winless in SLC play.
The victory means the Elks finished seventh in the SLC with a record of 1-6. Elkhorn finished 2-7 overall. Westosha finished 0-7 in SLC play and 0-9 overall.
The Elks scored on a four-yard run from Jordan Barr and took a 7-0 lead with 3 minutes, 12 seconds left in the second quarter.
Barr scored on a five-yard run and Ryan Shilts returned an interception for a touchdown in the third quarter for a 21-0 Elks’ lead.
Konnor Mohr scored on a one-yard run in the fourth quarter for the final margin.
“I was proud of them for the way they finished out the season,” Elks coach Tom Lee said. “They played as hard at the end of the season as they did at the beginning of the season.
“Our record didn’t indicate what we were capable of.”
Lee explained the disparity in talent and the Elks’ record by pointing out that Elkhorn got seemingly all of the breaks last season and seemingly none of the breaks this season.
In spite of their record, the Elks suffered just one true blowout this season – a 35-0 loss Aug. 21 at home against Waukesha North.
A handful of plays or turnovers at inopportune times spelled doom for the Elks too often. Lee said the team played conference co-champ Waterford as well as anyone and lost 14-0 Sept. 18 at home.
The Elks led Delavan-Darien 15-0 Sept. 4 at home before allowing five touchdowns and losing 38-15.
Two defensive miscues early led to two long scores against Badger, after which the two squads played even in a 21-7 loss Oct. 2 at Badger. Elkhorn allowed 18 first quarter points in an 18-14 loss to Burlington Oct. 9 at home.
“I think we’ve been playing well the last three weeks,” Lee said. “We gave up scores early to both Burlington and Badger, and basically dominated the last three quarters in both of those games.”
Two SLC teams clinched playoff berths with wins in their final game of the regular season.
Union Grove (6-3, 4-3 SLC) beat Burlington (5-4, 3-4 SLC) 28-16 at Burlington and advanced to the Division 2 football playoffs. The Broncos knocked the Demons out of the playoffs with the win.
Delavan-Darien rallied for 34 points in the fourth quarter, forced overtime and beat Wilmot 47-40 in a SLC game at Delavan.
The victory allowed the Comets (5-4, 3-4 SLC) to advance to the Division 3 playoffs. Schools can advance under special circumstances if there are insufficient teams with the required number of wins.
Lee said it is not uncommon for Division 3 schools to advance with losing records because so many play Division 1 and 2 schools in conference competition.
Lake Geneva Badger (8-1) beat Waterford 14-7 at Lake Geneva and won a share of the SLC title with the victory. Waterford (8-1) entered the game at 6-0 in SLC play and Badger came in at 5-1.
Badger, Waterford, Wilmot, Union Grove in Division 2 and Delavan-Darien in Division 3 advanced to the WIAA football playoffs out of the Southern Lakes Conference.
