Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Young Chairs playing like a seasoned veteran
ELKINS — Gaining the trust of coaches and teammates is typically a slow process for underclassmen.
However, for first-year Elkins Coach Zach Watson, it didn’t take long to gain trust in a special 15-year-old talent. In only the Elks’ second game of the season, sophomore back Da’Shawn Chairs put up a performance against Greenland worthy of NWA Democrat-Gazette Player of the Week honors.
Chairs (5-7, 158) ran wild for 208 yards on only nine carries, scoring five touchdowns. The remarkable feat meant he averaged a touchdown every two carries and gained 23 yards per touch.
“I used to have big games like that when I was in the ninth grade,” Chairs said of that night. “But nothing had really compared to doing it on a Friday night with the lights on and it being high school ball.”
Now with six varsity games under his belt, Chairs sits sixth on the rushing leaderboard among all classifications in Arkansas, tallying 1,010 yards and 20 touchdowns.
“It’s unique because he’s so young,” Watson, who was an assistant coach at Greenwood last season, said. “If you’re around him and watch the way he works, the way he studies film, and tries to go about getting better every day, it’s not surprising the year he’s having.”
Watson said while the results aren’t surprising to him, what is shocking is seeing Chairs at such a young age blossom as a leader through his practice demeanor and willingness to learn.
“I think his maturity comes out when coaches are coaching him,” Watson said. “He asks questions. He doesn’t leave any stone unturned. I can tell you from personal experience that he wants to know the ‘why’ behind what we’re doing. He wants to get better and wants to know the ways he needs to get better.
“When you’re coaching him, the focus on his face, the interest and the way he looks you in the eye lets you know he wants to be the best football player he can be.”
Not only is the trust given by his coaches because of on-field reputation, but also what’s done in the classroom.
“Da’Shawn is a special young man,” Watson said. “Not only is he a hard worker in football and has a lot of talent there, but he’s a great kid and a hard worker in his academics. He’s a really good student, a good teammate, good friend, just all around a complete good young man.”
“It boosts my confidence a lot knowing he trusts me even though I’m young,” Chairs said of his coach. “Having a leader like that who trusts me even when I’m only 15-yearsold, it means a lot.”
A date tonight with defending 4A state champion Shiloh Christian ( 6-1, 4- 0 4A-1) looms large, and for Elkins (7-0, 4-0) to knock off the heavyweights, one would assume it will take a special performance from Chairs.
However, according to Watson, it won’t take a heroic effort from his tailback. He said it will instead require a team-wide effort playing Elkins’ brand of football.
“I don’t think he has to do anything special,” Watson said. “He’s good enough to get attention, he’s just got to be himself. That’s what we try to tell all our players. In big games like this, nobody has to be Superman. He just has to go out and do what he already does, because that’s good enough. He has the potential to break out in a big game like this, but he just has to go out there and do what he’s coached to do.”
Sticking together as a team is something Chairs said will be critical to the Elks’ success against the Saints.
“I think we just have to come out and hit them in the mouth for four straight quarters,” he said. “We just can’t get down on ourselves. We know this is a big team, probably the biggest game of the season for us, and we just have to play a complete game. We want to stay undefeated.”
Both Elkins and Shiloh Christian enter the showdown with 4-0 records in 4A-1 conference play, the only unbeaten teams remaining with three regular-season games left on the schedule.
“We’re excited about it,” Watson said. “We’ve talked about it early this week that you don’t get too many opportunities to play the number one team in your classification in the state. I’ve been doing this for a long time and probably have been part of in both my playing and coaching days over 250 ballgames, but I can count on probably one hand or maybe two, how many times I’ve played the top-ranked team in the state. It’s exciting for us, and we’re up for the challenge.
“They have something that we want. They’ve been conference champions, they’ve been state champions, and that’s something our kids want. They’re certainly not going to go out there and just hand it to you, it’s something you’ve got to earn and take. Our kids are excited for that opportunity.”
When asked about the team’s attitude toward the opportunity at hand, Chairs’ explanation was simple.
“We’ve always been the underdogs against Shiloh, it is what it is,” he said. “We know what we have on our side, so we just have to bring intensity right out of the gates and make a statement.”