A sluggish start by the offense proved fatal for El Dorado’s football team, which fell hard to Sylvan Hills 33-7 Friday night during a soggy Homecoming at Memorial Stadium.
The Bears improved to 5-2, 3-1 while the Wildcats fell to 2-4, 2-1 in the 6A-East. The start of the game was delayed for about 15 minutes due to a lightning strike.
El Dorado didn’t pick up a first down in the first quarter and moved the chains just once in the first half. The Wildcats managed just 34 total yards in the first half. Sylvan Hills totaled 338 yards in the half, including 254 on the ground.
Sylvan Hills led 26-0 at the intermission.
“First half, we just struggled offensively, kept getting behind the sticks with penalties and things like that,” said El Dorado coach Steven Jones. “We weren’t very efficient on first down, got into second and third and long. We struggled to move the ball. When you get behind a team like Sylvan Hills that loves to run the ball and plays keep away, you get into a situation where you’re playing catch-up. It’s tough to get the ball back. They did a good job keeping us off-balanced.”
The Bears put up more than 430 yards in total offense, including 339 on the ground. Sophomore fullback Deangelo Smith powered his way for 133 yards and a touchdown on 30 rushes.
Sylvan Hills added 91 yards passing by Corey Washington, who hit Dominic Samuel for touchdown throws of 56 and 28 yards.
“That’s exactly what they do. They run the football effectively and force you to add hats into the box,” said Jones. “When you fall asleep back there, they’re going to find you and expose you and they did.”
The Bears opened the scoring with Samuel’s 56-yard TD reception from Washington on a third-and-14 play with 4:46 left in the first. El Dorado blocked the PAT.
The teams exchanged turnovers. Sylvan Hills’ Amarion Watson intercepted El Dorado’s Eli Shepherd. The Wildcats’ Jyrin Steward recovered Washington’s fumble in the end zone for a touchback.
But the Bears started to roll with a 14-play drive, capped by Smith’s 11-yard TD run. Sylvan Hills converted the 2-points when Emil McCoy took a lateral and then threw it back to Washington in the end zone with 7:58 left in the second.
The Bears’ next score was Samuel’s 28-yard TD reception with 3:34 left in the third. El Dorado made a contribution to the Bears’ cause with a safety on a bad snap to the punter with 2:48 left. Levi Persson booted a 34-yard field goal on the final play of the half to push the margin to 26-0.
El Dorado’s offense woke up for a spell in the third quarter with an 11-play drive, capped by Shepherd’s 20-yard fade pass to DeAndra Burns in the end zone. Dave Carruth kicked the PAT, slicing the deficit to 26-7 with 1:15 left in the third.
The Wildcats recovered the ensuing onside kick to seize momentum. But immediately turned the ball over on downs.
Sylvan Hills regained control on Washington’s 1-yard run with 4:51 left in the fourth.
“I was really proud of the fight and effort we came out with in the second half,” said Jones. “The way they dominated in the first half our guys really could’ve gone either way. To see the fight was encouraging to me moving into the last two games of the season.”