School Spotlight: Elgin High School

Elgin High School-located in Elgin, Texas-plays in the 5A classification of Texas high school football. They are ranked as the #631 team in the state, and the #63 team in the 5A classification. The Wildcats, whose colors are purple and white, are led by Coach Heath Clawson. Elgin had a great year going 8-4 and finishing 3rd in the 11th district of 5A classification region III. The Wildcats made it to the first round of the playoffs before losing to LBJ Austin. This week, I had the pleasure of talking to Coach Clawson about everything with Elgin football.

The history of Elgin football has helped showed their identity. They have traditionally a medium-sized town for a long time playing in the 3A classification of Texas high school football. Throughout the past couple of years, they have grown to a 5A school with the school most likely reaching 6A classification in the next couple of years. They have traditionally been a solid program with 2013 being their best year going 12-1. When the COVID pandemic hit, Elgin went remote the entire 2020-21 school year affecting the team. In Coach Clawson’s first year, they went 0-10 as they were dealing with the effects from going remote. However, they bounced back and went 8-4 making it to the playoffs while getting better altogether as a team.

Talking to Coach Clawson, the pillars of this program are unity, toughness, and discipline. Elgin is a school that is definitely unified in all aspects, especially in the football program. They are unified together as a team, and it helps them being tough and discipline. The Wildcats always want to be mentally and physically tough so they can wreck havoc on their opponents when it comes to gameday. If you can’t be both, you will not win in Texas, and Coach Clawson’s team has proven that they are both. They stay discipline, which has helped them bounced back from going 0-10 to 8-4 and only getting better.

The Wildcats runs a spread offense that has them running multiple formations. They love to run 4-5 wide along with having 11 and 20 personnel. Their run plays consists of a lot of zone reads and power while sprinkling in some of the RPO game. While they have multiple formations, they do not have many plays that they run. On defense, they run a 4-2-5 but they are a little more in the 3-3-5 defense during the game. The Wildcats has many hybrid players that has a lot of speed on the field and can play multiple positions.

The future of this program is looking bright for the Wildcats. Bouncing back from 0-10 to 8-4 in one year is not easy for one to do. They have a lot of younger guys who love working hard for Coach Clawson and the program. A lot of people want to put Elgin back on the map, and they are not afraid to put in the work in order to achieve that. They are growing as a program, and it helps them that they have many kids who want to be part of this program.