Rushing attacks will likely dominate Elgin, Cache offenses
ELGIN – The Elgin-Cache football game has been billed “Battle of the Wichitas” for several years, which leads fans from both sides to claim the gridiron matchup as a big rivalry.
“It’s going to be a big game with a big crowd,” Elgin head coach Chalmer Wyatt said. “I know we’ve been playing (each other) since 1980.”
On the flip side, Cache head coach Faron Griffin doesn’t think that much of the so-called rivalry.
“To us, it’s a non-district game but Elgin people take this very seriously,” he said. “I go to church with people from Elgin and I know how serious they take this. Elgin lost one year and a lady from the church wouldn’t speak to me for quite a while.”
Elgin defeated Cache 37-15 last year in a Class 4A district game. Since then, Elgin has moved to Class 5A.
Although the rivalry may be fan infused, coaches are focusing on the X’s and O’s of the gridiron and the strengths and weaknesses of their opponent.
“They’re extremely good,” Griffin said of Elgin. “They have a great quarterback, good running backs and good receivers. They’re going to be a handful for us. Their running back runs the counter and the stretch play really well. We will have our hands full to stop it.”
Elgin tailback Matthew Lund rushed 18 times for 187 yards in the season opener against Anadarko last week.
At the same time, Griffin knows his offense can be just as productive.
“Our strength is our offensive line. We’re pretty big and we played well (last) Friday night,” he said. “We have a tandem of running backs that can play well and our quarterback is someone who needs experience, so we’ll try to get him involved in the running game.”
The running backs include junior Connor Muldowney, senior Jack Vinall and senior Drake Jones who is capable of having success with the jet sweep, inside zones and plays that go up the middle. Cache’s offensive scheme will test the Elgin defense which bent, but didn’t break against Anadarko.
“They (Elgin defense) fly to the ball well and they play with a lot of confidence,” Griffin said. “We’ll see if they’re able to handle all of that movement.”
Cache junior quarterback Tyler Harbin made his first varsity start against Tuttle two weeks ago, but has been limited in the passing game.
“That’s my fault,” Griffin said. “We need to do a better job of that.”
Cache lost to Tuttle in the season opener, but rebounded last Friday with a 44-10 win over Altus.
Meanwhile, Wyatt knows how effective Cache can be on both sides of the ball.
“They are fast, big and they have good athletes over there,” he said. “They run an unconventional offense so preparation will be important. We want to be good on special teams and start quicker than we did last week.”
Wyatt specifically mentioned senior wide receiver Brayden Castro who is a speedy wide-out and could give Elgin a lot of problems on defense.
“We need to be able to get our hats on the ball,” the coach said. “They have a quarterback who can get out of the pocket, and they have running backs who are good between the tackles.”
Offensively, Elgin wants to start quickly with its rushing attack, which didn’t happen until the second half of last week’s game.
“We want to run the ball and we want them to come tackle us,” Wyatt said. “Winning the line of scrimmage will be important.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Ulrich Stadium, 100 Buffalo Circle, in Cache.