By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
El Dorado surrendered a touchdown late in the fourth quarter while protecting a big lead with a softened defense. But, the Wildcats accomplished their goal in a 28-6 win on the road at Lake Hamilton on Friday. Facing its second run-heavy offense in a row, El Dorado showed noticeable improvement, holding the Wolves to 140 yards on 24 rushing attempts and 84 yards through the air on 5-of-11 passing.
"When you hold a running team like they are to under 3.2 yards per carry, you're doing some things well. I thought our guys played extremely hard. I thought they physically got after them," said El Dorado defensive coordinator Justin Wylie.
"I'm really proud of the effort. It wasn't the ideal circumstances because of the rain delay. We didn't get rattled by it. It didn't affect us. We played ball. I really like how resilient this group is. They just keep playing ball. That's going to pay dividends for us in the future. Things aren't going to go right all the time. When you've got a little bit of adversity, how do you keep playing?"
Jacoby Hankton had nine tackles, including seven solos, with three tackles for loss and a sack. Wanya Archie had seven tackles with three tackles for loss, one sack and a forced fumble. Quentin Frazier had nine tackles, six solos, with one tackle for loss. Zac Donahue had six tackles with one tackle for loss. Gavin Heustis had six tackles and forced a fumble. Emon Ingram had five unassisted tackles and forced a fumble. Skylar Higgins had five tackles, one tackle for loss and a sack. Calab Scott had six tackles, one interception and one pass breakup. Chris Newton had four tackles, one tackle for loss and recovered a fumble. Clasine Miller recovered a fumble and Williem Artis broke up a pass.
Wylie singled out Heustis and Jonathon Goodman for their presence on the interior of the defensive line.
"Our inside people, their stats aren't tremendous. They don't have a lot of tackles but they made a lot of plays," he said. "They got doubled a lot. Gavin Heustis got triple-teamed. He got double-teamed a ton. It was times he was accounting for three guys. That really freed up our defensive ends and those guys. They did a good job of building a wall up front."
The Wildcats forced three turnovers, including two that stopped drives. Newton's fumble recovery in the first quarter halted a drive at the 9-yard line. Scott's second-half interception also helped keep the Wolves at an arm's distance.
"Just looking at the first drive, they moved the ball a little bit but I thought we settled in and got used to the speed of the game. We adjusted really quickly and I thought that was really important," said Wylie. "They moved the ball a little bit. They had three or four talented running backs. They got a few first downs on us but I thought we adjusted really fast. We went through a stretch where we were really locked in and really played well.
"It got to a point where we were up and they had to do some things they don't like to do. And, I thought our guys got after them pretty good."