Elders unite on field
By Steve Behr

sports@wataugademocrat.com

Trey and Blake Elder have been playing catch with a football since Trey was 6-years old and Blake was four.

They’ve come a long way since those days in the duo’s backyard. Saturday, the two brothers will play in the first round of the FCS playoffs against James Madison.

Trey Elder goes into the game a two-time defending national champion. Blake Elder was a freshman last year.

Trey Elder is used to playoff games. He took over for Richie Williams two years ago and led the Mountaineers to a 29-23 comeback victory over Furman. He scored the go-ahead touchdown himself on a quarterback sneak.

Elder then started the championship game against Northern Iowa the following week, but gave way to Williams, who led Appalachian State to a 21-16 victory.

This year, Elder is the backup to Armanti Edwards, who was just recently named second-team all-Southern Conference by the leagues’ coaches. Elder led Appalachian State to four victories in Edwards’ absence, which has helped the Mountaineers to a 9-2 record and a playoff berth.

”We don’t ever have enough time to talk about what Trey has meant to this program,” Moore said at his conference call Tuesday.

Trey has always been the Elder brother when it came to quarterbacking. According to Blake, both were San Francisco 49ers fans as kids and Blake preferred to be Jerry Rice instead of Joe Montana.

“We were both 49ers fans, so I never thought about being the quarterback,” Blake Elder explained. “I had a Jerry Rice jersey and I would be receiver and he would be the quarterback. That’s just how it was. I never had a desire to play quarterback.”

Both had the desire to play college football. Trey was named “Mr. Football” in South Carolina his senior season after leading Duncan Burns to a class AAAA South Carolina state championship.

He came to Appalachian State and backed up Williams during his freshman season. Elder proved he could play on the college level when he led the Mountaineers to a 40-35 victory over a Texas State that would reach the I-AA playoff semifinals the next year.

Since then, Trey Elder has been reliable as a starter and in relief. Including his senior season in high school, Elder has lost just one game — 23-10 to N.C. State — as a starter.

As a starter in high school, Elder went 15-0. One of his final regular-season pass completions was to his brother, who was a sophomore at the time.

“I threw a ball to him the first play of the game,” Trey said. “The next three were (against Western Carolina).
Trey Elder remembered his completion in high school as a “4-yard flare.” Blake said it went a bit longer — 7 yards.

“They lined me up in the backfield and motioned me out,” he remembered. “People ended up not blocking, so I cut across the field and I was still slow as a sophomore in high school. I shook a couple of people before everybody was on me, so I didn’t have much of a chance.”

That could have been argued about Blake Elder’s rise into the Appalachian State receiving rotation. He walked on to the Mountaineers’ program, but had non-football related health problems during the fall of 2006.

However, he got healthy and had an impressive spring, according to Moore. Elder carried his spring performance into the fall workouts and eventually settled in as the backup to Hans Batichon, a senior.

“He walked on here and he was a runt, the kid brother of Trey,” Moore said. “He had an obscure freshman year, but in the spring he started to show a bit and he stayed up here in the summer and he got healthy and got into the weightroom and put on some weight. He had a nice camp during two-a-days and he got in the rotation. He got a scholarship and he is highly respected by the players and coaches.”

Trey Elder’s numbers were outstanding while filling in for Edwards. He’s hit 65-of-102 passes for 993 yards and eight touchdowns with just three interceptions. Elder has also rushed for 403 yards and five touchdowns.

Blake Elder’s numbers aren’t so powerful, but he’s not worried about that. He has three receptions, all from Trey in the Western Carolina game, for 18 yards.

Blake is more concerned about backing up Batichon, who leads the team with 42 catches for 660 yards and six touchdowns.

“Right now, My focus is on this year and doing what I can for this year’s team,” Blake said. “That’s important because Hans is doing a great job out there.”