By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
El Dorado’s freshmen claimed the championship Friday at the Wildcat Jr. High 7-on-7 Tournament. The Wildcats topped Ouachita Christian 32-17 in the finals at El Dorado High School.
“We played real well,” said freshman coach Matthew Nash. “I was very pleased. I think we’re going to have a very good season if this is any indication of what we’re going to have.”
The Wildcats, who were undefeated on the day, beat Magnolia 28-3 in the semifinals. Ouachita Christian downed Monticello 27-15 in the other semifinal.
Sharmon Rester quarterbacked the champion Wildcats.
“He had a really good day,” said El Dorado varsity coach Scott Reed. “A lot of guys in that group had good days. That’s a really good group of players.”
Nash also singled out the play of Jackie Washington and Patrick Sixbey on offense and P.J. Denkins and Marques Waller on defense.
El Dorado’s second team of ninth graders won the consolation bracket, beating Camden Fairview 14-13 and Warren 14-11.
“I think all of our groups are coming,” said Reed. “We had our football camp and we had a lot of seventh, eighth and ninth graders. We had 144 kids at camp and over a hundred of them were seventh, eighth and ninth graders, which says a lot about those groups. All three groups are talented. They’re doing a good job down there getting them ready.
“I was really pleased with our ninth graders.
“And, our eighth graders, too. They finished second in their pool. We had some kids who had to leave for something else so they were shorthanded in the afternoon. But our ninth grade couldn’t have had a better day.”
The semifinals and finals were moved to the high school during the afternoon.
“Because of the heat, it gets so much hotter on turf,” answered Reed. “We had pool play at both places. But, (at the high school) we had places to cool down between games. There’s no where to go between games at the stadium. And, the grass is cooler than the turf.
“I was impressed with all of the teams and the conditioning. We didn’t have any issues despite it being so hot. They all did a good job. There was a lot of good play out there.”