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The Elgin High School varsity football team had its final showing in full pads before the summer Friday, May 19, at Wildcat Stadium for its annual spring game under the lights.
After the players ran their pregame drills, they were divided into two teams to begin the scrimmage in which the primary offensive players wore purple home jerseys while the primary defensive guys wore white uniforms.
The starters on both offense and defense got the first look on the night with the offense being led by senior quarterback Nathen Lewis and defense by senior linebacker Derrius Holiday. Wildcats head coach Heath Clawson, who was named the 2022 THSCA Class 5A Coach of the Year for Elgin’s turnaround season last year, is especially high on Lewis to thrive in his offense.
“Nate picked up where he left off. He’s a playmaker and a great leader,” Clawson said of his quarterback. “He showed that tonight. What we saw is that we’ve got several guys who can make plays so I know that’s going to give him the confidence to make throws and let other guys not feel like he’s got to carry the load.”
Lewis will have senior wide receiver Blake Courtney and junior wide receiver Jonathan Richard to throw the ball to, while senior running back Curtis McFarlin and sophomore running back Gary Jefferson Jr. can be dangerous in the open field.
“I think we’ve got multiple weapons, so I’m excited that we saw several guys make plays tonight and that’s going to be fun to see going into the fall,” Clawson said.
There were some solid plays made on defense throughout the night with guys like Holiday, senior defensive end Rogelio Huitron, junior safety Noddyn Bailey, junior linebacker Jackson Clowdus, and junior cornerback Marcus Hickman constantly around the ball making plays.
The second and third stringers all got plenty of reps on the night too as battles for playing time at different positions on both sides of the ball are up for grabs.
Clawson is especially impressed with how his younger guys are transitioning to the varsity level over the last couple of years as Elgin went from 0-10 in 2021 to the playoffs at 7-4 last season.
“I think we’ve got a lot of talented guys. A lot of our kids who were sophomores this last year have really grown through all we do to make them better athletes,” Clawson said. “We’re seeing it because we have a larger number of athletes who we can put on the field. But I feel like we’ve got some extra guys this year who we can put in the game and make plays.”
Elgin’s football program heads into the summer ready to work four days per week as the team will be up bright and early to do strength, conditioning, and agility drills.
“That’s a big part of our summer is getting our bodies ready and continuing to improve our athleticism,” Clawson said.
Coming up on the team’s radar will also be the 7-on-7 state qualifier tournament Friday, June 9 in College Station and a state qualifier lineman challenge June 10 in San Marcos. They will also likely be heading to Austin to do more 7-on-7 league competitions against other schools. Elgin wanted to host 7-on-7 at Wildcat Stadium, however, due to all the construction going on at Elgin High School, the program will be unable to do that this summer.
