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Last season, the Ellender High School football team used a strong passing game to outscore opponents and reach the Class 4A State Playoffs.
With those players gone to graduation, this year’s group will look to do the exact opposite: win games with a hard-nosed running game and a tough, stingy defense.
Indeed, it’s a total 180 for the Patriots in 2014 as Ellender shifts its offense to a more ball control attack.
But even with change in the air, the Patriots’ coaches and players believe that the team has enough talent in its locker room to make another trip to the playoffs.
“We had a good spring. And we’ve followed that up with a good summer and a good start to the fall,” Ellender coach Terry Washington said. “We have a lot of young kids that we’re looking to step up, because we did lose a lot of our guys at the skill positions. But everything’s been good. The work ethic has been good. The commitment has been good. We’re very pleased with where we’re at so far.”
Offensively, the Patriots will look drastically different than they did a year ago. In the 2013 season, Ellender had elite quarterback Dustin Creppel slinging darts to an elite fleet of wide receivers that sometimes ran five or six players deep. If the vertical passing didn’t work, the Patriots had bruising power back Justin Johnson to hand the ball to for tough interior yardage.
But with those players all graduated from the program and with the Patriots returning all five offensive linemen from a year ago, Washington said that we should expect the Patriots to shift away from passing the football 40-plus times a game in favor of a more ground-oriented attack.
“I don’t think there’s any question of that,” Washington said when asked if Ellender plans to rush more heavily in 2014. “But I think in some ways it’s a good thing. I think it’ll allow us to slow the game down and give us more control over the flow of things within the game. I think we look forward to that side of things quite a bit. Hopefully this will be better for us.”
Quarterback Curtis Anderson will anchor this new-look Patriots offense in 2014 after starting several games in 2013 when Creppel went down with an injury.
A dual-threat option-type quarterback, Anderson will likely not be as statistically savvy as Creppel was, but he has a chance to be just as effective in his own way, according to his coach.
“He’s no Dustin Creppel,” Washington said. “But he gives us a dimension that we haven’t had in the past – the ability to run the football and make plays.”
Anderson said he appreciates his coach’s praise and understands that as the full-time starter, he has a lot of pressure onto his shoulders.
But he added that he is at ease under center because of talented halfbacks Justen Harris and Edward Kennedy – the two players who will get the lion’s share of the touches out of the backfield for the Patriots.
“I know that it’s my turn now, and I definitely want to lead our offense to do great things,” Anderson said. “But it’s not about just me doing things a certain way. It’s about our team. We have a lot of talent here. I know that my teammates have my back, and together, we’ll make things happen.”
Of course, the luxury the Patriots have is experience on the offensive line. Washington said all five starters are back in 2014 after having a nice year last season.
This luxury is new to Washington, who said he had absolutely no size on his roster when he first took over the Patriots’ program in 2011.
Among the returning beef for the Patriots will be 2013 All-District standouts Trent Moore, Corion Gray and Malic Pharr – all players who have been starting since their 10th grade seasons.
In Moore’s case, he’s been a varsity starter since his freshman year.
“We feel so very comfortable with the offensive line this year,” Washington said. “And really and truly, that’s going to be our bread and butter. We need those guys. We’ll be relying on them a lot this year.”
Defensively, the Patriots return eight starters from last year’s group that struggled and allowed 30 or more points in 10 games in 2013.
Despite the struggles, Ellender returns college-level talent on the defensive line in Louisiana Tech commitment and defensive end Brandon Brinson.
Standing 6-foot, 4-inches and weighing 235 pounds, Brinson will wow opponents with his ability to rush the passer off the edges.
“I think No. 2 (Brinson’s playing number) is going to be a guy that a lot of teams have to look at and pay attention to,” Washington said. “He’s a heck of a football player. And I’m glad he’s on our football team – that’s for sure.”
Brinson said he’s worked hard over the summer to get in better shape, knowing that the Patriots’ defense has to get better in 2014 than it was one year ago.
He said that with eight returning starters he and guys like defensive back Darius Neville will have to step up to the challenge at hand.
“We have to be better,” Brinson said. “There’s just no way that we can give up 30 or 40 points in games this year. We have too many guys back for that to happen again.”
“We’re ready,” Neville added. “We’ve all worked hard and we’re all familiar with one another. We believe that this year’s group will be a lot better than what we had before.”
Of course, the best way to help the defense is by holding the ball all game and keeping them off the field.
That’s the plan in East Houma in 2014 – run the football, eat the clock, frustrate the opponent and get back to the playoffs.
“It’s a different football team than we had last year. It’s a lot of transition,” Washington said. “But we like what we have. We think we have the pieces to fit what we’re trying to do.”
We want to take it farther this year than we did last,” Neville said afterward in agreement.
“To the dome,” Anderson added to get the last word.
The Ellender Memorial High School football team had a memorable 2013 season, reaching the Class 4A State Playoffs for the first time under coach Terry Washington. This year, the Patriots think they can get back in the field. Why? They like the talent of (from left) Brandon Brinson, Curtis Anderson and Darius Neville, among others.
