HOWARD — To say the West Elk Patriots have been dominant the first three weeks of the season would be an understatement. Of course for fans of WEHS football, that is no surprise as the team has been a constant winner over the past five seasons.
The Patriots look to continue that trend on Friday when they finish up the non-district portion of their schedule with a road trip to South Central Border League foe Central-Burden.
West Elk is coming off a 48-0 thumping of Cedar Vale/Dexter last Friday at Pat Simmons Stadium. That moved the Patriots to 3-0 overall as they have outscored the opposition 150-6 so far to date.
“It was a very business-like approach,” said West Elk coach Chris Haag. “We played well. I don’t think we necessarily had as much energy as we’ve had before, but the defense was unbelievable. Our offense was pretty simple. We didn’t have to open up the offense too much. We came in, played hard, played well and just did what we needed to do to get the win.”
WEHS has won 38 of its last 42 regular-season games dating back to the end of the 2012 campaign. The Patriots will be looking to extend that streak while remaining unbeaten Friday at Central.
“We definitely want to play well heading into districts,” Haag said. “Right now, we have a team that never seems to get too high or too low. We expect to play better in this game as we build toward district play.”
Against CVD last Friday, the Patriots had 300 total yards of offense while limiting the Spartans to just 32 — all on the ground. Leading the way for WEHS was quarterback Cade Miller, who not only rushed for 100 yards and four touchdowns but also completed three of his five passes for 82 yards and a score.
Central heads into Friday’s contest winless on the season at 0-3 following a 56-6 home loss to Caldwell last week.
The Patriots have won the last four meetings against the Raiders, including last year’s 46-0 decision in Howard.
(Photo credit to Lynne Miller)