The Elk Mound Football team finished the season with an awards banquet on December 3rd. The team’s accomplishment can be summed up with a 9-3 (6-0 in conference) record, making it to a level 3 playoff game and earning the Conference Championship. The Mounders approximate points per game was 30.8*. They also rushed for approximately 3531 yards with 43 touchdowns but threw the ball once and in a while having about 515 yards with 5 touchdowns*. The team truly embraced the theme for the season to “Be Uncommon”.
The team faced lots of great opponents and even the scrimmage at the beginning of the year. The football team went against Marathon, Stanley-Boyd, and Chetek-Weyerhaeuser each of which made it to the 2nd level of the playoffs. The Mounders fought hard against the would be division 4 state champions in the second week. The team knew after facing them they would need to fight harder and get better if they wanted to get that Conference Championship.
The football team would go on to beat all conference rivals and go on a 9 game winning streak. The real battle came on Senior night when the Mounders battled for the conference championship against the Spring Valley Cardinals. The emotional game ended after over an hour of battle and Elk Mound won with a score of 24-20. Hard fought and well deserved.
This led the team to become a 2nd seed in the playoffs. They would go against 2 teams they had already competed against. They faced the Mondovi Buffaloes again to duke out another Dunn St. Croix battle. The Mounders won again and received a second chance to go against a team they played in August. The Chetek-Weyerhaeuser Bulldogs came to Elk Mound this time to take on the Mounders. The Mounders ended up defeating the Bulldogs showing they had grown since the first encounter. The football team would have to travel two and a half hours to get to their next game against the Grantsburg Pirates. The number one seed versus two seed was hard fought during the first snowy half but the game would end in Grantsburg favor ending the Mounders season.
The Elk Mound Football team was well represented at all levels of recognition. The team also received some awards for their studies getting players on the Academic All State team.
Head Coach Lew that the next year football team theme would be “Earn it”. The team has to earn what this season's players accomplished. The Mounders lose 12 seniors but have 17 juniors to fill the void for next year. The number of seniors continues to rise showing the team is continuing to grow and become a long lasting family.
Great season Elk Mound Football team! Can’t wait till next fall.
*Statistics are from Wissports.com and may not be exact.