It’s hard to top the first memory Flint Elite quarterback Dei’on Wright has of playing at Flint’s Historic Atwood Stadium.
“I played there in Pop Warner football, about 10 years ago, and we won a championship there the last time I played there,” Wright said.
Nearly a decade later, the senior may not have won a championship, but he led Flint Elite to a 46-20 win over Erie-Mason in the team’s season opener during the eighth annual Vehicle City Gridiron Classic. It is the first time in program history Flint Elite has begun its season with a win.
An Erie-Mason touchdown cut Flint Elite’s lead to 22-20 early in the third quarter before Wright led the team on three straight scoring drives, including two touchdown passes in that stretch, to put the game away.
Paul Carmona is in his second year as head coach of Flint Elite, which includes kids from both New Standard Academy in Flint and Madison Academy in Burton. The program’s history spans less than five years, but after overcoming the significant challenges that go with trying to build a varsity football program from scratch, including a winless first two seasons, the team finally has the ingredients that winning high school football teams need. Namely, experience.
“We only had two seniors last year,” Carmona said. “We had 24 freshmen. So there was a lot of learning how to play football, learning how to compete, learning how to win at the varsity level last season. I had 14-year-olds going against 18-year-olds for four quarters last season, so they took their licks, but it made them better players, better young men.”
The makings of a potential breakout for the program began late last season, though. Their win over Erie-Mason comes after the team beat Flint Elite 28-6 last year. Flint Elite went 3-6, and those three wins came in the last four games of the season. Two other games went to overtime, and they lost three games by less than a touchdown. Those tough losses and learning experiences were difficult to go through last year, but have resulted in a more seasoned group ready to establish the program as a formidable one in the Flint area.
The team has 11 starters back on offense, which provides a level of experience that is common for other teams but Flint Elite hasn’t had in its short history. They also have speed. A lot of it. So much that Carmona has had to adjust his preferred style to fit the personnel and athleticism of the team.
“I’ve been coaching for almost 20 years now, and I’ve always been a run-heavy, pound it down your throat type of coach,” Carmona said. “They’re changing the way I coach. These skill position guys are just different. We have six or seven receivers who just compete every day. We’re fast, and we’re gonna try and play fast, hurry-up offense, spread the field out, just try to get guys in space and let them do their thing.”
That starts with quarterback play, though, and Wright – who his coach referred to as a “gunslinger” – got the team off to a great start by showing off an ability to throw the ball deep. He avoided pressure, stayed patient and didn’t scramble too soon, and threw well on the run, completing several long passes to tall receivers who broke free down the field.
“It feels great to be able to lead the team in my last year of high school football,” Wright said. “I worked on my pocket presence this summer, not rolling out so much cutting off a whole side of the field to throw to. So, just being able to stay in the pocket more but still moving my feet and being mobile.”
Like Wright, a lot of players on the team took the offseason seriously, participating in 7-on-7 football and hitting the weight room.
“No one ever did weight room before I got here,” he said. “And now they understand the importance of it. They committed all summer, so we’re really excited.”
In addition to helping the players improve physically, they also provided good bonding and team-building moments in the offseason.
“What I’m looking forward to most this season is just being with the team,” said senior DiGion Perkins. “I’ve tried to take the younger players under my wing, you know, weight room, whatever it takes in the class room, getting their work done and getting on their grades. I just wanna be a good team with good teamwork.”
The team brings back two all-conference players in Phillip Matthews Jr., a sophomore who received the honor as a defensive back, and C.J. McDaniel, a junior who was recognized at wide receiver. One strength of the team on offense and defense is simply their athleticism, which is helped by the fact that several players on the team are also standout basketball players who can go up and get the ball on offense, or deflect it in the secondary on defense.
“I also coach basketball, and I knew one of the first things to do was get basketball players out here,” Carmona said.
For the players who have helped establish a more competitive environment, the goal goes beyond just this season. It includes sustaining it for future generations of players in the program.
“Flint Elite football is a group of gentlemen that built a brotherhood,” Wright said. “It’s gonna stay a brotherhood for as long as the program is around.”
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