Football: Strode elevates play of surprising Elks

Elkins senior quarterback Jake Strode poses Wednesday in Elkins.
Elkins senior quarterback Jake Strode poses Wednesday in Elkins.

ELKINS -- Not many quarterbacks wear jersey No. 34, but Jake Strode isn't a typical quarterback.

Strode approaches the position with the intensity of a linebacker, the position he primarily played before taking over at quarterback last year. Strode has adapted quite well for Elkins, which defeated 3A-1 Conference favorite Clinton 28-14 on the road last week.

At a glance

Jake Strode

SCHOOL Elkins

CLASS Senior

POSITION Quarterback/Outside linebacker

HEIGHT 5-10

WEIGHT 180

NOTABLE Has passed for 1,343 yards this season with 19 touchdowns and only one interception. … Completed 18 of 23 passes for 223 yards and 1 touchdowns in last week’s win over Clinton. Also rushed for 24 yards. … An outside linebacker who took over at quarterback last season because of an injury to the starter …. Enjoys weight lifting in addition to football.

Strode (5-foot-10, 180 pounds) led the victory by throwing for 223 yards and one touchdown on 18 of 23 completions. For the season, the senior has thrown 13 touchdown passes with only one interception, an impressive ratio for a player who took over at quarterback in Week 3 last year after an injury to the starter.

"Jake is probably not a natural at quarterback, but he got thrown into it last year before I came here," said Elkins coach Chad Harbison, who arrived in June. "He's an outside linebacker by trade. That's what he's really good at. But he's such a hard worker and a competitor that he's really gotten good at quarterback."

Elkins is one of the surprise teams in the area with a 5-2 record, including 3-1 in conference play. The win total matches last year when the Elks went 5-6 and lost to Centerpoint in the first round of the playoffs.

There was uncertainty coming into the season after former Elkins coach Thurman Shaw resigned to return to the Pine Bluff area. But the Elks have rallied under Harbison, who met his new team for the first time on June 1.

"We want to win and when coach Harbison got here, we committed to him 100 percent," said Strode, who accounted for over 1,200 yards and 11 touchdowns last year in nine games. "All 15 seniors bought in and the younger guys did the same."

Elkins pulled the surprise at Clinton after falling 30-23 at Mountain View in its previous road game. Clinton took a 7-0 lead before Elkins responded with 21 consecutive points and won 28-14.

"It's a team game and we didn't play very well that game," Strode said of the loss at Mountain View. "But against Clinton, the (offensive) line was great, my receivers made plays, and the defense stopped them. We showed what we were capable of and everybody did their job. That was the big difference."

Strode plays only football and he is a regular in the weight room even during the hot summer months. But he's become more of a student of the game as a quarterback and his time in the film room paid off last week with a touchdown pass that secured the win at Clinton.

"He's had to learn and process all aspects of our passing game, which is different than what he'd been used to," Harbison said. "He's learned how to study film on his own and he made a play against Clinton that resulted in a score at the end of the game. It wasn't something I called. He checked it and made the play."

Elkins has three regular-season games left, starting with Melbourne on Friday and continuing with road games at Greenland and Green Forest. Strode will make sure his team doesn't look ahead to rival Greenland, especially after the Elks were eliminated 15-14 by Melbourne in the playoffs two years ago.

"My sophomore year, we went to Melbourne and lost," Strode said. "I was one of the few guys left on the team who remembers it, and we're determined not to let that happen again."

Sports on 10/20/2016

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