Sep. 23—During the preseason, Russell Ellis reiterated to his players to stop getting off to slow starts early in the season.
After starting 0-3 the last two years, the Sarcoxie football team has reversed the trend this fall. The Bears are off a strong 4-0 start entering Week 5 action.
“I’m really proud of the kids,” Ellis said. “Our kids have really worked hard this offseason. To come away with four quality wins, it’s pretty big for our program.”
Sarcoxie opened the season with a 30-13 triumph at Houston and followed that up with a lopsided 42-7 victory at Wyandotte. In Weeks 3 and 4, the Bears came away with wins over Pierce City and Stockton by margins of 50-20 and 28-20, respectively.
Sarcoxie, which runs a flexbone triple option, features a solid run-game with quarterback Jaron Malotte leading the way. The junior has rushed for a team-high 404 yards on 54 carries and scored four touchdowns.
Malotte has completed 7 of 13 passes for 103 yards, including eight touchdowns and two interceptions.
“Jaron started every game last year as a sophomore,” Ellis said. “He has really hit that sophomore to junior jump that most kids make as far as physically and mentally. He is doing a great job commanding our offense. He does a great job with making the right checks and getting us in the right play.”
Drake Acheson has been successful in his new role at fullback. He’s scampered for 294 yards on 33 attempts and paces the team with six touchdowns on the ground.
Acheson is joined by four other running backs — Garrett Smith, Terio Asterio, Blake Heckmaster and Antonio Genito.
“Those four kids are doing a good job just buying into the system and doing a great job blocking, which is key in our offense,” Ellis said. “Not only are they explosive when they the ball in their hands, but they are also doing a great job creating holes for us to get through. We returned four out of five starters on the offensive line. Those guys up front are doing a great job on the option side of the ball.”
Acheson anchors Sarcoxie on the defense. So far, he’s recorded a team-high 53 tackles and has four tackles for loss.
Tyler Cupp holds down the fort at middle linebacker, and the big boys up front and players in the secondary have stepped into their roles, too.
“Our defensive line is doing a really good job of eating up blocks and re-establishing the line of scrimmage,” Ellis said. “Honestly, the teams we have played haven’t thrown the ball a ton, but we have Malotte, Ethan Lee and Blake back there doing a great job. We have Jesse Arreaga, who has really come on strong for us at the corner. I’m really proud of those kids.”
Ellis said this group feels special because of the camaraderie that has already been built within the team
“They all do different things together,” Ellis said. “They are fun. They enjoy and love each other. Our kids are really selfless. That is one of the reasons why we are where we are.”
Sarcoxie, now in Class 1, hosts Springfield Central at 7 p.m. on Friday. Just two weeks ago, the Bulldogs thumped Agape Boarding School 49-0 to end a 53-game losing streak for their program.
“We are wanting to take it one week at a time,” Ellis said. “We are not good enough to overlook anyone. We got Springfield Central this week, which is a Class 5 program. They are starting to figure some things out there over there. They are really, really athletic and physical. They do a good job of getting the ball out in space. We can’t overlook anyone.”