A fast start from Stratford was too much for the Gruver Greyhounds to overcome as the Elks jumped on the Greyhounds early and never looked back during a 40-27 win in a key District 1-2A Division I showdown on Eddie Metcalf Field at E.L. Sam Bass Stadium in Stratford on Friday.
The Elks (4-2 overall, 1-0 in district) jump right into the thick of things not only as potential district favorites all of sudden but put Region I on notice with the victory.
“We knew playing a tough non-district schedule would pay off,” Stratford head coach Jonathan Murphy said. We needed to play teams like Childress last week. Coming off that loss, we challenged the guys and they showed up to play with a lot of emotion in this game. The guys played their tails off and we were fired up.”
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Gruver, last year’s district champion, falls to 4-2 overall and 0-1 in 1-2A Division II.
The Elks started the contest hot scoring on their opening play when the versatile Darius Jones took a handoff and busted loose 66-yards quickly putting Stratford up 7-0. Stratford build that lead on the next possession on a four-yard Jones scamper before Gruver found the endzone.
Down the stretch of the second quarter, the Elks took all the momentum scoring 14 unanswered points on a Alejandro Casas one-yard score then a two-yard run from Casas giving Stratford a comfortable 28-7 advantage going into halftime.
In the second half, Casas kept up his pace scampering for a 51-yard run to paydirt and Abe Goss scored in the fourth to seal the victory.
“We had talked about the matchup all week,” Murphy said. “We felt the best matchup for us was upfront. Gruver is a great team and unbelievable at the skill position. We wanted to run the ball right at them and we were able to do that. Give credit to our offensive line. We were running multiple backs and they created big holes for them to run through.”
Casas led a ground attack that posted 227 yards on the night. Casas had a team-high 107 yards on 11 carries with two scores. Jones added 68 yards rushing with a pair of TDs of his own and quarterback Chase Lantelme ran for 27 yards. Casas did his job on defense getting 12 tackles by halftime, returned a fumble for a touchdown, blocked a punt and had an interception. Jones chipped in with a interception of his own.
“I feel our defense did a good job against Briggs (Satterfield),” Murphy said. “He’s a tremendous player and they were in his face all night. We were able to take the run game away and that was a big difference.”
Gruver fell out of sync early but did rally back to score 20 second half points. Quarterback Briggs Satterfield finished the game going 18-of-28 for 184 yards passing with two touchdowns but did throw two interceptions. He also rushed for 76 yards and a score. Brock Butler caught nine passes for 103 yards with a TD.