State-Journal.com - Seventh-grade Elks win conference semifinal

Elkhorn Middle School’s seventh-grade football team played in the semifinals of the Bluegrass Football Conference Tuesday, facing Madison Middle, the No. 1 team in the Southern region of the conference, and came away a 16-14 victory.

The game was played at Eastern Kentucky University.

Madison opened up the scoring with a touchdown and an extra point after a couple of turnovers and was able to get on the scoreboard again in the first half.

Madison’s extra point attempt after the second touchdown was stopped by Dane Douglas and a host of Elkhorn players, which proved to be crucial to the outcome of the game.

The first half ended with Madison leading Elkhorn 14-0. EMS assistant coaches Chris Thompson and Chuck Ammons made some key adjustments at halftime, and after being down two scores at halftime Elkhorn’s defense shut Madison down the rest of the game.

The Elks scored all their points in the final seven minutes of the game.

Rontez Mitchell scored Elkhorn’s first touchdown on a sweep to the left side, and he scored the extra point.

After a great defensive stand the Elks got the ball back with their special teams stepping up and blocking a punt, giving the offense the ball on Madison’s 42-yard line.

With some strong running to the left side of Elkhorn’s line (Zack Hollister and Jared Marshall) the Elks did the rest to push the ball in for the score. Sam Anderson and Trey Smith got together on some key pass plays for some key first downs, and with EMS sticking with running behind the left side of the line the Elks were able to tie the game on a touchdown by Mitchell.

On EMS’ first attempt to score the extra point the Elks were stopped at the 1-yard line, but there was a flag on the play with a facemask penalty called on Madison.

That gave Elkhorn the ball at the 1, and on the next attempt the rest of the offensive line got into the act with Jacob Graves, Keagan Smith and Thomas Williams giving Mitchell a chance to score the 2- point conversion, giving Elkhorn the 16-14 lead.
With 1:57 left in the game Elkhorn special teams coach Kevin Harrod called for an onside kick with great coverage as the Elks were able to stop Madison’s return man who had scored both of his team’s touchdowns.

With a strong defensive stand at the end of the game the Elks were able to run out the clock.

Elkhorn head coach Mike Mayes said support from reserve players Joe Bunker, Brian Tramontin, Denwan Hall, Jason Loman, Chris Mckinney, Fernando Rebolledo, Angelo Cordones, Bobby Anglin, Sheldon Goins, Martez Howell, Brian Allen, Tyler Green and Zack Spradlin played a major role in the victory as they never gave the team a chance to think it couldn’t come back, calling the victory a total team effort.

Elkhorn will play in the championship game at Bourbon County High School, Tuesday, Nov. 3 at 6 p.m. The Elks will play Georgetown Middle, which defeated EMS in the regular season 34-0.