By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
El Dorado advances to the next chapter of its football season tonight when the Wildcats host Lake Hamilton in the first game of conference play. Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
The unbeaten Wildcats have dropped three in a row to the Wolves. El Dorado’s last win in the series was 44-34 in 2013. Lake Hamilton won last year’s game 27-21 and enters this season with a 2-1 record.
The Wolves beat Hot Springs (35-7) and Malvern (56-27) to start the season before falling hard to Bryant 56-7 last week.
In this series, El Dorado coach Scott Reed said, past records aren’t good indicators.
“Last year, they were 0-3 when we played them,” he said.
Tommy Gilleran is Lake Hamilton’s third coach in as many years. He brings the Wing-T offense to the Wolves, who averaged 45.5 points before the Hornets shut them down last week.
“I think they’re good on offense. They’re playing some kids both ways. They have a really good right tackle who is a Division I player. They’ve got some skill kids. Unlike last year’s Lake Hamilton team, they can run it and throw it. They certainly have our attention,” said Reed, who reflected back on last year’s loss in Pearcy.
“Last year we had turnovers that got us in trouble. It seemed like everything that could go wrong - did. We need to play well offensively, a lot better than we did last year.”
The Wing-T offense could present some problems for the Wildcats, who struggled early against Cabot’s similar attack.
“It’ll be the first time I’ve seen the Wing-T since I’ve been here,” said Reed. “It’s a lot of misdirection, a lot of play action, bootlegs and waggles off of it. I think Coach Clay, when he was there, he was more of an I (formation) guy but he had some Wing-T principles. But, Coach Gilleran is a long-time Wing-T guy and he’s very good at it.”
Cabot used tight end counter to success against El Dorado early in Week 2. The Wolves have faster, more athletic wingbacks in similar positions.
“We’re going to see counter. We’ll see some counter, lots of it. Buck sweep, but we see buck sweep in practice,” said Reed. “It’s a different formation. There are different things you have to handle from the Wing-T than with Cabot. I mean, they have a little double handoff play that’s tough. They hand it to one guy and he hands it to another real quick. When you see it, you’ll say ‘oh, that’s a little different. I haven’t seen any of that.’”
Defensively, the Wolves line up in a 4-2-5 and try to take away the run.
“Mostly in a six-man box, even front though. They’ve been in a even front in every game we’ve seen,” Reed said. “They haven’t brought much pressure at all. In fact, very little. They play some kind of man coverage principles on the back end, try not to let you run it.
“Their two ends are good players, both about 6-3. Their inside players are gap holders but they’re physical, big, thick kids. The linebackers are new, can’t get a good handle on them. I would say the strength of their defense is up front and on the edges.”
El Dorado’s offense has clicked this season, including a 51-28 win over Magnolia last week. The 51 points scored were the most by the Wildcats since a 52-6 playoff win over Marion in 2014.
“I do think we’ve been getting better and better in the passing game,” said Reed, who added, “They haven’t had a lot of people run it on them. It’s been more throwing.”
The teams could be even in the kicking game. Reed said the Wolves haven’t shown anything out of the ordinary on kickoff returns this season.
The key could be, defensively, figuring out where the Wolves plan to attack and making the necessary adjustments, if needed.
“I think we’re going to be fine if we don’t let them throw it over the top of us. They’ve got some sneaky ways in the pass game to get guys running,” said Reed. “I think if we don’t let them have any big plays, that’ll be key to me. Our defense has been really good about not letting people hold the ball, keep it 12 plays and score a touchdown. This a probably the best group we’ve seen that can run and throw. But, if we don’t let them have big plays, we should be in good shape.
“Offensively, we need to be good. We need to score points this week. I think we’re a lot better if we’re ahead of these guys.”
Reed said the Wildcats are healthy, which they weren’t a year ago. The week of preparation was difficult, however, because of the weather.
“It’s just been hot. The heat has gotten to us. There have been some times we’ve had some lulls in practice. But, for the most part, we know what we’re doing. Offensively, we’re pretty sharp. Defensively, it just takes awhile. As we get the game going, kind of like against Cabot, it took us awhile to settle down,” said Reed, who noted the unpredictability of this series.
“It’s odd. You think you get a handle on it. The last two years, we’ve kind of laid an egg and lost games I thought we should’ve won. The last two years, I thought we had better teams than them but we just didn’t get it done. This series has been really good because both teams have been good through the years. They’ve got a lot of tradition, like us. We’ve played them twice in the finals. There’s some tradition in this series.”