By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
El Dorado wrapped up its second week of football practice with a scrimmage under the lights Friday night at Memorial Stadium. There was no score kept but Coach Scott Reed said the Wildcats were most impressive on the offensive side of the ball.
“We looked like we were a little tired. We had a tough practice (Thursday night). It was really good. The speed was a whole lot better defensively (on Thursday). I didn’t think we moved near as well defensively as we have been. I think part of it is camp’s here and they know we’re going to scrimmage Nashville on Monday," he said.
“I was really pleased with our offense tonight. I thought we took a big step forward. Our two older quarterbacks did a great job against blitz and running our offense and did a good job with the ball. We had different situations like four minutes when we were ahead. You’ve got to take care of the ball. We don’t want to run out of bounds. I think we had one incomplete pass there but it was catchable. We also threw a big pass to Shun (Levingston) on a bootleg type play. I saw progress as far as learning what we’re doing. I thought our offensive line communicated well. I thought we executed well on offense with all of our groups for this time of year.”
The "older" quarterbacks Reed referred to were Alex Hicks and Stuart Bowers, who is grasping more of the offense after transferring in to El Dorado.
"They were much better with the ball," the coach said. "We didn’t have the lost-yardage plays. I don’t think our defense brought near as much pressure, which helped a little bit. But, still, I thought they took a step forward."
The Wildcats went live on several special teams. He said he'd be able to evaluate kickoff and kickoff return better after looking at the film.
“I was also pleased with our field goal kicker. I don’t think he missed any. We had six or eight field goals with him," Reed said of Greysen Hubbard. "Punt protection, we went at speed tonight and we missed a couple of protections. We’ve got to fix that.
"The main thing I saw tonight was, I thought we were really good with the ball offensively and we executed well. I thought we looked like we were good enough to keep going and play more. That was good. I limited reps tonight with our older guys because I wanted to get them to be fresh on Monday. Overall, I was pleased. I think we can play faster defensively. I have seen us play where we’re hard to deal with. Tonight, we looked a little slow. I don’t think we missed a lot of tackles. I don’t think we lined up wrong. But, I don’t think we played with the emotion we have been playing with defensively."
The Wildcats will scrimmage Nashville on Monday at SAU in Magnolia. Next Friday, El Dorado will hold its Purple-White scrimmage.
As for this week, the coach said it was productive even after the weather washed away Wednesday's practice.
“We lost Wednesday’s practice because of lightning. But, after Tuesday night, I don’t know that we needed it. We had a really good Tuesday and Thursday with everybody. Tonight, we had a good night with the offense, as far as what I was looking to see.
“Defensively, I think we’re further along than I thought we’d be, now. But, I don’t think we played with as much emotion and as fast as we’ve been tonight. In some respects, (Thursday night) looked like the scrimmage. The speed was really good.”
Reed said his players are holding up well after a week of physical contact. He likes where his players stand as far as conditioning.
"This week was a lot. I told them this was going to be a grind week. We had a week uninterrupted of getting after it, practice in pads," he said. "Physically, we’re healthy. We haven’t gotten anybody hurt, which is good. You can tell the lifting, the conditioning, the time we put in in the off-season and the summer has paid off. I’m pretty pleased with where we are there.
“I want to give (senior tight end) Alex Boone a shout out. He had a rough week, lost his mother. He was at practice every chance he could be. He was here tonight. He has been chomping at the bit for us to let him go in pads. He did tonight and I thought he did good things. I’m really proud of him. I’m very proud of the way he’s going about honoring his family.
“I hope this is a release for him. But, the fact that he’s here is really impressive.”