Elk City Team Preview
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It’s the month of July and that means it’s preview time! Throughout the month of July, we are publishing 100 team previews to get you ready for the 2022 season. This is something that began last year and has become even bigger and better this year. We’re looking forward to diving deep into the top teams across the state. From defending champs, to top contenders and dark horses, we’ll have complete coverage every single day with new teams from Class 6A down to A. In this post, we take a look at the Elk City Elks. After a run to the semifinals a year ago, the Elks look to make another run in Class 4A this fall.
Elk City Elks
Some times you have to just put your hand up and admit when you’re wrong. Hand up, we got Elk City wrong in 2021. We knew that they would have one of the top running backs in Class 4A, but we didn’t see 10 wins and a run to the semifinals in the crystal ball last summer. That’s exactly what Elk City did as they would start the season 4-0 before losing to Bethany in week five. They would also get shut out by Clinton in week nine and finish third in the district. From there, the Elks went on a fantastic run. They beat Newcastle in week ten and then went on the road and held an explosive Cushing offense to just 14 points. The following week, the literally crossed the state to dominate and take out district champion Grove. They faced district foe Clinton in the semifinals and it was much more competitive then what we saw in week nine but Clinton would not be denied and ended up raising another gold ball. This year, Elk City won’t sneak up on anyone as the target is going to be bigger than last year and they’re ready to have higher expectations. Defensive coordinator Zac Maynard takes the lead on the Elk City program and he looks to keep this thing going in the right direction.
As Elk City looks to make another run to a 10-win season and another semifinal appearance, they’ll rely on a very experienced offensive line and a total of five starters back on that side of the ball. Elk City had one of the best running backs in the state but he’s graduated and is a big hole in this offense in terms of his production. But the Elks are confident that the running game will still be strong this season with the return of several offensive linemen from last year’s team. While some of the skill players are getting used to playing in big time games, the defense will also be getting rebuilt. But similar to the offense, they’ll be stronger on the line of scrimmage and work their way back. Five starters return on defense but we really like what they have returning in the front seven. The schedule will once again provide plenty of challenges, including a district rematch with the defending state champs. But Elk City does appear to have what it takes to be competitive once again in Class 4A.
2021 Results (10-3 Record – Lost In Class 4A Semifinals)
Aug. 27 – Beat Pampa, TX. 35-28
Sept. 2 – Beat Southeast 52-21
Sept. 10 – Beat Guymon 62-8
Sept. 24 – Beat Elgin 56-6
Oct. 1 – Lost To Bethany 27-6
Oct. 8 – Beat Chickasha 31-8
Oct. 14 – Beat Weatherford 66-18
Oct. 21 – Beat Cache 52-7
Oct. 29 – Lost To Clinton 34-0
Nov. 5 – Beat Newcastle 28-14
1st Round – Beat Cushing 21-14
Quarterfinal – Beat Grove 45-24
Semifinal – Lost To Clinton 17-7
Key Losses To Graduation
Daylan Thompson – Running Back
Mason Price – Defensive Back
Players To Watch
Levy Owens
Levy
Owens
5'10" | RB
Elk City | 2023
State
OK
– 2023 Running Back
One of the biggest replacements any team has to make this fall is Elk City with replacing star running back Daylan Thompson. They’ll look to a few players to fill that role but one player who might stand out is 2023 running back
Levy Owens
Levy
Owens
5'10" | RB
Elk City | 2023
State
OK
. The senior running back will be a power back and he has the potential to be the type of workhorse back that we saw from Thompson last season. And Owens is hungry to get back on the field. He tore his ACL early on in the 2021 season and had to miss their run to the semifinals. He’s not only determined to get back on the field for himself, but he wants to make sure the Elk City offense doesn’t miss a step this fall. He has an outstanding offensive line blocking for him as well.
Sammy Leal
Sammy
Leal
5'9" | LB
Elk City | 2023
OK
– 2023 Linebacker
On the defensive side of the ball, there weren’t many other Elk City standouts that had a more productive season than 2023 linebacker
Sammy Leal
Sammy
Leal
5'9" | LB
Elk City | 2023
OK
. The Elk City linebacker finished the year with nearly 130 tackles and also finished with 16 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. The Elks bring back a few pieces on the defensive side of the ball, especially in the front seven. This is going to be a defense that is designed to dominate against the run and they’re in the right class and district for that. The majority of their opponents will be run-first teams. Leal will try to not only outdo his production from a year ago, but he looks to become more of a leader for the Elk City defense this season.
More Names To Know
Gage Eastman – 2023 Offensive/Defensive Lineman
Holden Dixon
Holden
Dixon
5'10" | OL
Elk City | 2024
OK
– 2024 Offensive Lineman
Trace Decker – 2023 Offensive/Defensive Lineman
2022 Schedule/Games To Circle
Aug. 26 – Altus
Sept. 2 – AT Bridge Creek
Sept. 9 – Canadian, TX.
Sept. 16 – AT Carl Albert
Sept. 30 – Clinton
– Because their district will only have seven teams, Elk City gets a much needed week off in week four, which would have been their district opener. This week off will prepare them for when they do open up their district slate in week five against Clinton. After losing to Clinton in the semifinals and getting blown out by Clinton in the regular season, Elk City will definitely have this battle of western Oklahoma teams circled. It’s probably been circled since they walked off the field at SWOSU last November. But they’ll welcome in the defending 4A champs in week five and they look to become the new team to beat in the district with a victory here. Although they are defending champs, Clinton has to replace quite a bit so this game could be very competitive from start to finish.
Oct. 7 – AT Cache
Oct. 13 – Chickasha
Oct. 20 – AT Weatherford
Oct. 28 – AT Woodward
Nov. 4 – John Marshall
– Coming down the stretch and heading into week ten at home against John Marshall, this one is huge for Elk City and their playoff hopes. At this point, going into this match-up, Elk City is going to know exactly where they stand in the district standings and if they come into this game against John Marshall with a perfect district record, they will have either already locked up the district crown or they’ll win it with a victory at home against the Bears. John Marshall is a new team to the district and will provide a decent challenge to Elk City. Like the Elks, they have a first year head coach, but one who is very familiar with the program and this is a program that always has talent on both sides of the ball. This will be a big game for playoff seeding purposes.
Notable
Elk City definitely snuck up on some teams and made a surprising run to the Class 4A semifinals last season. In fact, they also made quite a bit of history when they punched their ticket to the semifinals against district foe Clinton. Elk City hadn’t won a playoff game since 2006 and they hadn’t been in the semifinal round since 2004. Since winning in the first round game back in 2006, the Elks had lost five consecutive playoff games, until they went on the road and stunned Cushing and then did it again in the quarterfinals. They would travel over 300 miles from western Oklahoma to northeastern Oklahoma and knocked off the district champion Ridgerunners. Elk City is looking to build on the momentum they received from that run to the semifinals a year ago as they head into the 2022 season.
Championship History
1 State Championship
1998 – Beat Clinton 20-0