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LAMPASAS – The Elgin High School varsity football team came up just short on Friday night as the Wildcats were defeated 31-23 on the road by Lampasas High School at Badger Field.
The Wildcats were able to get on the board early in the first quarter thanks to a dazzling play from Elgin senior quarterback Nathen Lewis and junior wide receiver Jalen Owens. After rolling out to his right and being hit while he threw the ball, Lewis connected on a deep 46-yard touchdown pass to Owens in which he out-jumped a defender for a ball and broke another tackle for the score to put the Wildcats up 7-0.
“We have several firsttime varsity starters, especially on offense,” Elgin head coach Heath Clawson said. “They showed a lot of promise. Owens played great in his first varsity football game. We also saw that Zaire Nuells, Gary Jefferson Jr., Curtis McFarlin, Darren Harper and others will all be able to make plays for us.”
This was mostly a defensive slugfest in the first half as Elgin and Lampasas entered halftime deadlocked at 7-7. On the night, the Wildcats had three players with double-digit tackles as junior linebacker Jackson Clowdus had a team-high 13 tackles, senior linebacker Derrius Holiday had 12 stops and senior defensive lineman Dennis Lavigne had 10 tackles.
“Defense played good most of the night,” Clawson said. “Lampasas did a great job of keeping our offense off the field and wearing our defense down using the heat and humidity against us on the road.”
After Lampasas scored 10 points to take a 17-7 lead into the fourth quarter, Elgin had to play catch-up the rest of the way. Lewis and McFarlin both scored rushing touchdowns but the Badgers were able to keep the Wildcats’ offense at bay to secure the win.
Lewis finished the night 11-of-23 passing for 204 yards and one touchdown through the air to go along with 16 carries for 66 yards and one score on the ground.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, three turnovers on offense led to the Badgers capitalizing on Elgin’s mistakes but Clawson is confident they will be able to bounce back.
“We need to clean up first-game and youthful mistakes that are inevitable,” Clawson said. “We showed we can move the football in multiple ways, and we have guys on defense that will make it difficult for most teams to move the ball consistently.”
Clawson expects his group of players to respond well this week as Elgin is set for its home opener at 7:30 p.m. this Friday when the Wildcats host Austin Akins High School for Teacher Appreciation Night at Wildcat Stadium.
