ELKINS — Considering they were playing the defending Class 3A champs and the current No. 1 team in the state, the Elkins Elks needed a near flawless outing Friday night if they hoped to pull the upset. It didn’t happen.

Three first-half fumbles by the Elks led to 21 points for Charleston and the Tigers rolled to a 42-7 win at a sloppy John Bunch Jr. Memorial Field. Charleston (9-0, 6-0 1-3A) is a lock for a high seed in the playoffs but Elkins (3-5, 2-4) faces a must-win game at home Thursday night against Greenland and even then, the Elks will need some help.

Elkins moved the ball in the early going but turnovers on three of its first four possessions killed any chance of pulling the big shocker.

“We were moving the ball and I thought we hada pretty good game plan but we shot ourselves in the foot with the fumbles and several offsides penalties,” Elkins head coach Aaron Clark said.

The Tigers racked up 416 yards compared to 145 for Elkins. Ryan McDonald rushed for 106 yards and three scores to lead Charleston. For the Elks, Chad Curry netted 76 yards on 16 carries and Blake Bailey caught three passes for 29 yards, including a sevenyarder for Elkins’ only score.

Curry’s first three carries netted 26 yards and Elkins was on the move but a fumble ended the momentum and set up Charleston with a short field. Eleven plays and 55-yards later, McDonald gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead on a four-yard run.

After Charleston’s defense forced a turnover following a sack of quarterback Robert Teague, the Tigers marched 44-yards and McDonald got his second touchdown from14-yards out. Charleston made it 21-0 on their next possession when Derrick Haney hit Michael Meador for a six-yard score.

A fumbled snap by the Elks put the Charleston offense back on the field and four-plays later, Meador scored again to put the Tigers up 28-0. The Tigers led 35-0 at the break.

“I thought we came out and executed well,” Charleston head coach Doug Loughridge said. “I wanted to see how we executed in these conditions and how we threw the ball in these conditions, how our outside running game was. I thought we lined up and executed well on the offensive line.”

The Tigers made it 42-0 on their opening possession of the second half but the Elks finally got something going latein the third. An 11-play, 67-yard drive ended with a seven-yard pass from Teague to Bailey to set the final score.

Sports, Pages 6 on 11/04/2009

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