ELKTON Elkton-Lake Benton advanced to the semifinals in Class 9AA for the third time in the past four seasons on Thursday night as the Elks beat Hanson 44-15 in the quarterfinals.
No. 2 seeded ELB jumped out toa 13-0 and then pulled away in the second half.
Senior quarterback Colt Beck got the scoring going with an 82-yard touchdown run in the first quarter to make it 7-0. ELB head coach Kaleb Haas said it was nice to see the Elks hit a big play early in the game but his team is focused on making sure they sustain drives when those arent coming.
Pop plays are nice to have, especially in the playoffs. We had a couple weeks where we werent able to get them quite as frequently and it was eye opening with how we needed to focus on not the pop plays but the sustained runs on first and second down and sustaining a longer drive rather than relying on pop plays. I think we did that well tonight, but the pop plays are definitely nice, Haas said.
Eliot Erickson made it 13-0 early in the second quarter with a nine-yard run. The extra point was missed so the lead remained at 13.
No. 10 seeded Hanson got on the board with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Jett Jager to Jason Porth and an extra point made it 13-7. Wanner Enriquez then hit a 31-yard field goal to make it 16-7. The Elks would add one more touchdown before halftime as Beck threw a 22-yard touchdown to Beck. An Enriquez extra point made it 23-7 at the break.
Savion Stephens extended the ELB lead in the third quarter with a three-yard touchdown catch from Beck. Then Beck had a 39-yard dash to the end zone later in the quarter to make it 37-7 heading into the fourth.
Haas said having Beck at quarterback makes things a lot easier for the offense.
Hes a great athlete to have on our side. He always seems to make the right decision and is a great athlete, Haas said.
Erickson scored again in the fourth as he took it to the house from 32 yards out to make it 44-7. Carter Endorf scored on a one-yard run with 17 seconds left and Stetson Riggs ran in the two-point conversion to make the final 44-15.
This is Haas’s first year as head coach of the Elks after spending five seasons as an assistant at ELB. He said having 10 seniors on his roster has made his first season as leader of the team easier.
Having experience is nice. We didnt change the scheme a ton. They were familiar with me and the scheme, we liked it with the personnel that we had, so having them be familiar with it has been a huge help, Haas said.
ELB has come up short in its two previous trips to the semifinals. Last season the Elks lost to Hamlin 20-16 and three years ago they fell 36-8 to Parkston. Haas noted that ELB came up five yards short against Hamlin and the team has thought about that since the season ended last year.
Weve been preaching all offseason since last year, we were five yards short of making it to the championship last year against Hamlin and our whole motto has been five more. Five more, and our kids have really bought into that. Whether its in the weight room, the practice field or on game day. We just have to have that same attitude, Haas said.
The Elks’ opponent this year in the semifinals will be Parkston again. Haas said the current seniors were freshmen when ELB lost to them in 2022 and hopes that loss will be extra motivation next Friday.
[Being at home] will help. Parkston came here for a semififnal game three years ago and they took it to us a little bit. Having that same rematch, our seniors were freshmen at the time, them remembering that game will hopefully add a little fuel, Haas said.
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