By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
EL DORADO - El Dorado needed a conference victory and drove clear across the state to get it. The Wildcats beat Siloam Springs 49-23 on Friday to even their overall record at 4-4 and 2-3 in 6A West action.
El Dorado surrendered 249 total yards but held the Panthers to just 41 yards rushing on 18 attempts, according to statistics provided by KLBQ statistician William Evans.
“That’s the best we’ve played against the run all year,” said El Dorado defensive coordinator Justin Wylie.
Siloam Springs completed 12-of-30 passes, including a 65-yard touchdown pass from Luke Lampton to JD Horn.
Johnathan Hall led the Wildcats with 10 tackles, including six solos. He had two pass breakups, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and returned a fumble for a touchdown.
“Johnathan Hall played his best game so far. He was very active, very aggressive,” said Wylie. “They tried to run a lot to his side and he made ‘em pay for it. It was a big turn of events when they ran the quarterback to the weak side and he secures the tackle and just takes the ball from the quarterback, runs it in from about 25 or 30 yards for a touchdown. That was huge.”
Mon-Trae Marshall had eight tackles. Dewey Wilbourn had three tackles, two pass breakups and one tackle for loss. Donovan Walter had four tackles and one quarterback pressure. Lake Tucker had one tackle with three quarterback pressures and a sack. Bishop Foster had two assisted tackles, broke up a pass and had an interception. Caleb Scott had two tackles and broke up a pass. Ja’kal Wade had two tackles and one pass breakup.
“Bishop Foster had a big momentum play in the game early. They had the ball on their 26 and he got an interception. That was a big momentum swing for us,” said Wylie. “Caleb Scott got the most playing time he’s got all year. He has a nose for the football. He doesn’t light up the tackle stats because he was covering for most of the night. But, he had a big pass breakup on a fourth down. The quarterback scrambled and he stayed with his guy and did what he was coached to do. I feel like he played well. He’s going to play fast wherever he goes. He’s going to play a hundred miles an hour. That’s what we want.”
For the second week in a row, Wilbourn was praised for his play at cornerback, especially for bouncing back after giving up the long pass to Horn.
“On third-and-10, they tried a quick screen to that guy and Dewey tackled him for a loss,” said Wylie. “Had he not made that tackle, we didn’t have enough bodies over there so he saved us right there. He did a great job.”
For El Dorado’s defense, which has been decimated by injuries this season, building confidence is crucial as the postseason approaches. Wylie hopes Friday’s performance provided a step in that direction.
“We had challenged our guys all week to have a nothing-nothing mentality every time the ball was snapped. We knew going in they would try different things. They tried two fake punts on us. We knew they were going to try different formations and different things. Our guys didn’t worry about that. We just played ball,” he said. “We played fast. It was the best job of tackling we’ve done all year. We were flying to the ball. We were making adjustment on the fly. We got a lot better this week. We need to continue to do that. But, we played a lot faster and that was good to see.”