By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
Usually after a loss, teams will want to get back on the football field to face another opponent as soon as possible. But, El Dorado's open date after a 27-10 loss to Cabot two weeks ago probably came at an opportune time. After the Panthers bludgeoned the Wildcats for 281 rushing yards on 58 attempts, El Dorado travels to Lake Hamilton on Friday to face a similar styled offense.
El Dorado defensive coordinator Justin Wylie believes, despite the loss, the Cabot game will pay dividends.
"I think it will be a tremendous asset. Cabot's a good football team. Those guys up front were big and strong. It pointed out some things where we needed to get better and make some corrections," Wylie said on Tuesday. "It exposed some things. We've watched the film and we've gone back and made corrections and worked on different techniques, playing lower and that type of thing. I think it benefits us going forward."
Cabot ran the Dead-T offensive formation. Lake Hamilton operates out of the Wing-T.
"They're a run-heavy team like Cabot," said Wylie. "Cabot is a little bit more run heavy. Lake Hamilton will throw it. The offense itself, is more predicated on misdirection, although they have downhill run plays in that system. But, there's a lot more guards pulling and counters and wing counters like the halfback counters we saw against Cabot. It's similar. The style of football is going to be real similar as far as it's going to be a lot of run plays."
The Wolves are 3-0 on the season, averaging 43 points per game. Lake Hamilton owns wins over Hot Springs Lakeside (31-27), Malvern (56-10) and Hot Springs (42-7).
"They're really talented in the backfield. They've got three or four guys they have a lot of confidence in carrying the football," said Wylie. "Up front, they're not as big as Cabot but they do what they do well. They know what they're doing. They're sound up front. Those guys are doing a real good job."
The coach said the Wildcats, during their off-week, got back to basics and also got a little physical.
"A lot of fundamental stuff, we've gone against each other. We've had some periods where we've gone against our offense for speed. We've been getting after it pretty good," said Wylie, who, after the Cabot game, said his defense had to get lower in its pad level.
"I think we've done a better job. We want to see it in a game situation come Friday. We want to see us take the stuff we're doing from the practice field and execute it in the game."