PATRIOTS ROLL PAST OSWEGO T LOCK SPOT IN 2-1A PLAYOFFS

[Janet Harrington]

  HOWARD - Talk about peaking at just the right time.
  The West  Elk High School football team picked up its fourth consecutive victory Friday night and, in the process, clinched a second straight trip to the state playoffs with an impressive 54-0 victory over Oswego.
  The Patriots, who now stand at 5-3 overall, have won five of their last six games since an 0-2 start to the season.  Included in that is a 2-0 mark in Class 2-1A-District 6 action.  Wikth Oxford's 55-16 victory at Sedan on Friday, the Patriots and Wildcats have both clinched playoff spots from the district and will face each other Thursday in Oxford for the District 6 championship.
  "We came out and played really well at the start," said West Elk football coach Chris Haag.  "The second quarter, we kind of stunk the joint up. We got a little sloppy and complacent and lost some of that intensity and fire.  We came out in the second half and got back to form.  We were able to get some younger kids in there.  The kids played hard."
  A year after making their first postseason appearance in 17 years, the Patriots will be heading back to the playoffs for a second straight year-the first time West Elk has ever made consecutive trips to the postseason in school history.
  "We[re obviously very excited about going back to the playoffs," Haag said.  "But we've still got some business to ake care of.  We have higher sights right now as a team.  We're looking forward to a great game with Oxford.  The kids deserve this opportunity, and we're going to give Oxford our best shot."
  West Elk, coming off an impressive 48-6 victory over rival Sedan a week earlier, overwhelmed Oswego from the start.
  The Patriots struck for three first-quarter touchdowns, including runs of six and three yards by Colby Linder and an 18-yard pass play from C. J. Madison to Blair Lowe, in building a 20-0 advantage after just 12 mintues.
  madison scored on a 22-yard run in the second period and added the conversion run himself to push the lead to 29-0 at the intermission.
  West Elk put the game well out of reach in the second half.  Madison had touchdown passes of 43 and 12 yards to brett Koop and travis Ewing, respectively, to push the lead up to 42-0 after three quarters.  Then in the final period, Talon Nordquist ran in from 14 yards out, and Taylor Lowe capped off the scoring on a 13-yard run to put the finishing touches on the victory.
  West Elk racked up 402 total yards, including 272 on the ground, while holding Oswego to just 114 offensive yards.
  Linder led the Patriot ground attack with 14 carries for 77 yards and two touchdowns.  Meanwhile, madison completed 8-of-11 passes for 130 yards and three scores, while also running three times for 26 yards and another score. 

WEST ELK 54, OSWEGO 0

[/b]                   
                                                                     OHS                  WEHS
First Downs                                                          8                       11
Rushes-Yards                                                 47-93                 36-272
Passing Yards                                                     21                     130
Total Yards                                                      114                     402
Pass Com-Att-Int                                           3-11-0                  8-11-0
Punts-Avg.                                                   7-20-8                  1-51-0
Fumbles-Lost                                                   2-2                       3-3
Penalties-Yards                                               1-10                     3-30
OSWEGO                                            0          0        0           0  -  0
WEST ELK                                         20          8      14          12 - -  54

SCORING PLAYS

WEHS 0 Linder 6 run (Linder run)
WHES 0 Linder 3 run (Run falied)
WEHS - B. Lowe 18 pass from Madison (Pass failed)
WEHS - Madison 22 run (Madison run)
WEHS - Koope 43 pass from Madison (Linder run)
WEHS - Ewing 12 pass from Madison (Kick failed)
WEHS - Nordquist 14 run (Run failed)
WEHS - T. Lowe 13 run (Run failed)