By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
CONWAY - Conway quarterback Jovoni Johnson scored on a 10-yard run on the first play of the second overtime. The Wampus Cats then forced an incompletion in the end zone on fourth-and-22 to seal a 48-41 double overtime victory over El Dorado in the season opener Friday night.
"I thought we would play, offensively, much better in the first half. But, our kids competed, especially in the second half. We competed our tails off. I’m really proud of our kids," said El Dorado coach Scott Reed. "We had a bunch of them who are really young. To play a 7A opponent like this, we had chances to win. We’re all upset we didn’t win. But, we’re going to be fine. We’ve got some kids … we competed hard. We knew we were outnumbered. We were going to have some guys play too many reps for this time of year.
"They got to us early just running downhill. But, there was no give up."
Conway totaled 435 yards offense while El Dorado mustered 359.
The Wildcats tied the game 34-34 on Alex Hicks’ 14-yard touchdown pass to Steven Tollette with 1:49 left in regulation. But, Greysen Hubbard’s PAT missed.
Conway drove 52 yards in six plays. After calling their final timeout with the ball at the EHS 15 and 29 seconds on the clock, Cary McClain carried to the 10 but was stripped of the football. El Dorado recovered to end the threat and send the game into OT.
On the first play of overtime, Hicks connected with Alex Boone for a 10-yard touchdown pass. Hubbard added the PAT for a 41-34 lead.
Conway took over at the 10. After Johnson ran for six yards, a high shotgun snap lost six back to the 12. Safety Chris Newton blitzed in to deflect Johnson’s pass attempt on the next play to force a fourth-and-12. But, Johnson lofted a pass into the end zone to 6-2 Will McKenna, who leaped over El Dorado’s Willem Artis to haul in the pass in the left corner of the end zone. Aaron Caudell tied the game with the PAT.
Artis appeared to have the play defended but the height discrepency proved too great.
"Will was in good position to make a play on the ball. I don’t know if he ever saw the ball. He was at a height disadvantage," said El Dorado defensive coordinator Justin Wylie. "They executed. But, that wasn’t the play that cost us the game. There were several opportunities for us. We made some mistakes but I’m very proud of the way we played.“
“It was huge," Fimple said of the fourth down pass. “There’s no doubt. He’s done things like that all summer long. We’ve seen him go one-on-one with people. He just made a great catch. Great throw by Jovoni."
Conway started the second OT with Johnson running over defenders into the end zone from 10 yards out. Caudell added the kick for a 48-41 advantage.
The Wildcats took over at the 10. Tollette was dropped for a 6-yard loss on a reverse. Hicks was then sacked for a 6-yard loss before two incompletions ended the game.
McClain rushed for 170 yards to lead the Wampus Cats.
Hicks rushed for 101 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries and passed for 175 yards and four touchdowns on 11-of-20 attempts.
"Alex was good," said Reed. "He was good with the ball. I don’t know how many times we had him take the ball to make plays. I don’t remember a turnover. He made a lot of plays. Other guys did, too. We had some skill kids make a lot of plays. The difference was, in the second half, our offensive line settled down and played better. We were not very good in the first half. The issues we have, we cannot continue to have lost-yardage plays where they don’t do anything. We do it to ourselves whether it’s poor snap or not lining up, right. Or, illegal motion. We’re young. It’s probably my fault. We’re probably doing too much. But, I think we’re going to be fine. I do. I like the way our kids play. We play hard."
Keontae Larry had 12 rushes for 135 yards. Shun Levingston had three receptions for 95 yards. Tollette had two TD catches.
"We’re going to get better. If we just clean it up, we’re going to be a pretty good team," said Reed. "I don’t think there’s an area where we’re not going to be good enough to compete with everybody on our schedule. But, we’ve got to clean some stuff up. But, I’ll say it again. I saw it in camp. I like this group. They try to do what they’re coached to do and they want to be good. You could tell because there were some times tonight where it looked like they were physically handling us. It didn’t matter. We kept playing. We’re going to be O.K."