On both sides of the ball, Wade Elwood is a big reason why Madison has been undefeated, unchallenged and incomparable among this year’s crop of Eight-Man I teams.
Offensively, when either Michael Luthi or Caleb Hamilton are running up big-time rushing numbers for the Bulldogs, they’re often doing it behind Elwood’s work at guard. On defense, he’s an impact player at linebacker. A senior, Elwood also became a team captain this year for the first time.
“He’s just a leader on our team, whether it’s on defense, offense, practice, weight room, locker room,” Madison coach Fred McClain said. “He encourages the younger kids, does a great job of setting a good example with his work ethic and his attitude.
“He just wants to get the ball in the end zone. He doesn’t really care how it gets there.”
As far as Elwood’s concerned, Luthi, Hamilton and Madison’s other skill players can get the numbers and take all the credit for the job he and his linemates do. Like many line units, they may deserve more attention, but they don’t crave it.
“All linemen are pretty good about that,” Elwood said. “We don’t really care about the individual stats here at Madison. We just like the team stats and record.”
Even so, Madison keeps track of the blocking percentage of each of its O-linemen. Out of 237 snaps that he’s lined up at guard, Elwood has made 174 positive blocks for a blocking percentage of just under 74 percent. The Bulldogs aim for each of their linemen to block at 75 percent, so Elwood is performing right around the level the Madison staff wants him to achieve.
“We do a lot of pulling and trapping, and he’s leading the way a lot of times for our running game,” McClain said.
Elwood’s been a tremendous presence as a linebacker, with 64 tackles (39 solo), four sacks, two interceptions and four pass deflections. Those numbers that are impressive not only for his position, but for someone on a team that doesn’t get the ball run on it very much and has made a habit of ending games early with the mercy rule.
“He’s broken up four passes — that’s pretty nice for a linebacker,” McClain said. “Because most of the time, those are first downs.”
Elwood wants to play football in college and is in the process of applying at different schools. He doesn’t have a preference on which side of the ball he’d play at the next level, even though he calls himself “more of a defensive guy.”
“But offense, you’re guaranteed to hit someone every play,” he said. “So it’s hard to tell (which I like better).”
madpoet (anonymous) says...
Good job, Wade! I'm sure your parents are really proud! Good luck in college next year.
October 30, 2008 at 2:16 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
neighbor (anonymous) says...
Excellent work Wade, good luck to you in your future ganes and career. I'm sure Darren and Nakita are proud.
October 30, 2008 at 5:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )