×
×
homepage logo

Elston named coach for Metro Classic

By Shawn Linenberger - | Feb 16, 2005

Tonganoxie High football coach Mark Elston has been named as an assistant coach for the Metro Classic, which will be played June 16 at William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo.

Elston will be an assistant for the Kansas squad under Shawnee Mission North coach Sam Brown, who also was Elston’s coach in high school.

The Metro Classic pits outgoing high school seniors from Kansas and Missouri against each other. Top players are nominated to play in the game. Players then are selected to play on the Missouri and Kansas squads from those lists.

Last fall, Elston’s Tonganoxie team went 9-2 and won the school’s first playoff game and clinched its first district title since 1995. The Chieftains fell in the second round of the playoffs to eventual state champion Topeka-Hayden, 27-14.

In 2003, Elston’s squad was an overtime loss away from becoming Tonganoxie’s first undefeated football squad in roughly three decades.

That season, Tonganoxie again made its way to the playoffs and along the way finished as league co-champions.

In five years at Tonganoxie, Elston has an overall record of 32-17. 2002 was Elston’s only non-winning season at THS. The Chieftains finished 5-5 that season, but in the process, earned the school’s first playoff berth with Elston at the helm.

Elston said last week he was unsure who other assistant coaches would be for the Kansas squad.

He’ll be practicing this summer with the Kansas team at Mid-America Nazarene University in Olathe.