Hines, Concepcion lead Lions to firstwin
Many Class 6A and 5A teams in the Houston area are going into their fourth week of playing football games. For Elsik, the Rams are going into their third week — of practice.
Until Friday night at Crump Stadium, the Rams had not played a game in 2020while dealing with COVID-19. Prior to Monday, all athletic activities at Elsik had been virtual.
“It’s been a daily grind just getting kids acclimated to conditioning, to the heat and to the ruleswewere given,” coach Aric Sardinea said of his Rams, who didn’t start practicing until two and ahalfweeks ago andare the second to last team in Houston to start its season.
“Looking at the last couple of weeks, it was a challenge because we hadn’t had any competition since last year. We’ve tried to make everything as normal as possible,” Sardinea added.
Elsik’s opponent, Taylor, was playing only its second game of the season Friday.
“Our team, they were waiting for this opportunity for a long time,” Sardinea said. “Just like any other kids that have been practicing a lot, they were ready to play, to get out there andsee something different, see another color jersey and be able to go out and participate and have fun.”
Based on Friday night’s score, Taylor may have enjoyed the game more. The Lions had little trouble in beating Elsik 41-0 in a Dis
trict 23-6A matchup.
“We had a clean game, and I said if we have a clean game, we should be able to win,” Lions coach Shawn Gray said. “I’m proud that the kids played the whole game through.”
The Lions had 384 yards on the ground, with Alonzo Hines rushing for 120 yards on 10 carries and Jourdan
Concepcion adding 64 yards on only six carries.
“We had to establish something,” said Gray, who’s in his first year as the Lions’ coach coming after serving as offensive coordinator at Bush. “We need to establish either that we can run the ball or some identity. I felt we could run the ball.”
Two plays into the game, Taylor (1-1) led 7-0, and the outcome was never in doubt. The Lions, who scored touchdownsontheir first four possessions, were just too talented and deep for the inexperienced Rams, who suited up only 36 players with many playing both ways. The Rams played freshman Eric Dad
zie at quarterback.
Dadzie connected with Joseph Nathaniel on a catch and run of 57 yards to the Taylor 20-yard line in the closing minutes of the first half. But the drive ended when Jahiree Pittman intercepted Dadzie in the end zone and the cornerback returned it 43 yards.
Taylor quarterback Esteban Torres directed the Lions to the easy win, throwing for two scores including an 80-yard pass to Concepcion and adding a rushing touchdown of 16 yards to open the scoring. Hines was effective running the ball, adding a 20-yard touchdown late in the first quarter.
The mixture of Concepcion and Hines was a prolific combination. Concepcion scored on a 6-yard run in the third quarter.
“They’re pretty much the importance on the offense, and they need to show that they can run the ball if we need them to,” Gray said.
Highlights were few for Elsik, making its season debut in mid-October. But the Rams’ Abdul Adegbite blocked a second-quarter field-goal attempt that derailed a drive by the Lions, who led 28-0 at halftime. And defensive back Jacory Whigham recovered a fumble on the first series of the second half.
Taylor opened its season last week against Manvel, losing 35-13.
Before the Rams were given the go-ahead to begin fall practice, communicationwas strictly with virtual meetings by Zoom.
“We did a lot of character development,” Sardinea said. “We tried to do a bit of film virtually. We tried to manage and get the most out of it until we were able to come back to school and see the kids. So we were able to do that the last couple ofweeks. We just did the best we could. And a lot of protocol once we got back.”