El Dorado faces stern road test at Benton

By Tony Burns

Sports Editor

How good is Benton? The Panthers upended Cabot 56-41 a month ago, just a week after El Dorado lost a 27-10 decision to that same 7A Cabot squad.

The Wildcats travel to Benton tonight for a key 6A-West matchup.

Comparing scores is often misleading. Benton was coming off an open date before its win over Cabot.

“Cabot turned the ball over six times,” said El Dorado coach Scott Reed of Cabot’s loss to Benton. “I think it was raining that night, too. I don’t remember exactly but Cabot turned the ball over. When that happens, you’re going to get beat. We couldn’t get ‘em to turn it over.

“Now, I will say this, Benton, defensively, has forced a lot of turnovers. They’re knocking it loose some. Our guys, we’re going to get checked. We have to be physical, be tough.”

Even if Cabot had a bad night, Benton’s 5-1 record this season is legit. The Panthers’ lone loss was 28-14 in the season opener against Bryant. That game was shortened due to a disturbance in the stands.

Since then, Benton owns wins over Arkadelphia (56-17), Cabot (56-41), Russellville (27-0), Siloam Springs (54-14) and Little Rock Hall (49-0). The Panthers are averaging 48.4 points in their last five games.

“They’re really big and physical on offense, big offensive line. They have two receivers that run well and they have that tailback back. He’s a good player,” Reed said. “They’re scoring a lot of points. The only game they didn’t score, other than the shortened game was Russellville. That was the night with all the rain. Other than that, they’ve scored points every week.

“They’re explosive offensively.”

The Panthers can run the ball behind senior tailback Zak Wallace. Quarterback Garrett Brown has a solid receiving corps, led by speedy Gavin Wells and Garrett Body.

“They take shots throwing it. They’re not going to dink and dunk you all night. They’re going to take shots. But, they’re physical running the ball,” said Reed.

Benton’s offensive line, which features four seniors, is massive, averaging 288 pounds tackle-to-tackle. That includes a pair of 300-pound tackles and senior center Joshua George (6-4, 305).

Defensively, Benton runs the, fairly rare, 3-3-5 alignment, normally a blitzing scheme. The only other odd front team El Dorado has faced was Cabot.

“They bring a lot of blitz, a lot of man coverage. They only have three returning full-time starters but they’re good. They’ve been in that system awhile now,” said Reed, who was asked about the Panthers’ bringing extra people.

“The blitz? That doesn’t bother me. They don’t bring a lot of people. They add one about every play, which gets them to four. It’s just you don’t always know where it’s coming from. They don’t bring five a whole lot, not much at all. But, they do have good corners. They play man coverage some. They have a good safety. They have a defensive end and a very good middle linebacker in Calvin Carroll. He’s a good player. They’ll be one of the more physical teams we’ve played. They’ll rank up there with Cabot and Conway.”

A blitzing team can also be susceptible to explosive plays. Reed said his team has to take advantage of opportunities if they present themselves.

“We do need to have some big plays. We should. We need to,” he said. “The whole key for us is if we’re good with the ball. We turned the ball over some against Sheridan. That made it into a ball game. We need to start well and eliminate the lost-yardage plays and the penalties. We had too many penalties last week.”

The Wildcats snapped a five-game skid against the Panthers with a 27-20 last year at Memorial Stadium.

“Last year we turned the ball over four times against them and won here. We won’t be able to do that this year,” said Reed.

“They’re better than they were a year ago. But, I do think if we play well, we’ll be right in the middle of it. I know we’re capable of it. We just need to show it. The second half of the season, we need to crank it up.”

El Dorado (3-3, 2-1) fell behind the last two weeks against Greenwood and Sheridan. Against a team averaging nearly 50 points per game, digging an early hole wouldn’t be advisable.

“We need to be better in the first half than we were the last couple of weeks. Perfect thing for us would be for us to get going early and be confident and help our defense,” said Reed. “The last two games, we’ve gotten behind Greenwood and Sheridan, did not play good first halves. We played good in the second half. Early in the year, we started great. We need to get back to starting faster. That’s important. We need to get off to a better start. We don’t need to get behind these guys.”

Annually, El Dorado’s game against Benton has postseason ramifications.

“To me, it’s still early in the conference race. But, if we lose this one, you don’t have a chance to win the conference,” said Reed.

“With one loss, you’re still in the hunt. And, every time you win, it makes your situation better, especially when you beat a good team on the road. I just think this is a great opportunity for this team to turn it around. I think we’re getting better in spots. But, we need to beat a good team. I think that would do us a world of good.

“I think we match up well. I’m glad to see it cooling off a little bit. We tend to get better this time of year. I think we’re getting a little healthier, too. I don’t know that Shun (Levingston) is a hundred percent yet but he’s been able to practice this week. He’s trying hard to get ready.

“This will be a big test for us. It’s important, very important game.”

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