El Dorado’s varsity football team wrapped up a productive week by winning the Speed Demon Shootout on Friday. The 16-team 7-on-7 tournament was hosted by Northwestern State in Natchitoches, La.
The Wildcats beat Alexandria, La., 32-25 in the championship game after downing Huntington, La., 32-17 in the semifinals.
“There’s some really good competition there. We got a lot of good reps. That’s what it was about,” said El Dorado coach Steven Jones. “I thought we competed very well. I thought we held up nicely in the heat. I feel like our guys are in really good shape. It was great to come out of there with a win, for sure. The last team we played, Alexandria, they played in the 5A State Championship game last year in Louisiana.”
El Dorado went undefeated in the tournament with pool play wins over Benton (La.) 40-13, Comeaux (La.) 30-18, North Desoto (La.) 27-19 and Captain Shreve (La.) 23-22.
El Dorado played with all three quarterbacks - Sharmon Rester, Kolin Parker and Jamison Dumas.
“We’re getting better. Our quarterbacks and receivers are more on the same page after the first couple of weeks of the summer,” Jones said. “Going to stuff like this definitely helps that and it helps our secondary as well.”
The Wildcats will be counting on their secondary as a strength this season.
“We’re starting to add some depth,” said Jones. “One of the guys that stood out was Rakel Williams, a junior that’s going to play safety for us. He made a lot of plays. Events like this in the summer will definitely help us identify guys that are going to be able to help us.”
It was El Dorado’s second varsity 7-on-7 tournament of the week. The Wildcats finished as the runner-up at the OBU Camp, falling to Pulaski Academy in the championship game.
The 7-on-7 tournament was in the afternoon after an 11-on-11 team camp in the morning session. El Dorado competed against Little Rock Christian, Greenwood and Pulaski Academy.
“It was another day of great competition,” Jones said. “The team camp was more of a practice setting. You run six plays and then your defense is on the field for six plays and you rotate. Overall, I thought we did very well.”
For the Wildcats, it was an opportunity to see the offensive and defensive lines butt heads with different teams.
“That’s the second time to see them in pads in a live setting after our spring game. Honestly, we probably got more out of that camp than going against one another,” said Jones. “I was pleased again. Defensively, we’re just way ahead of where I expected us to be at this point of the summer. Defensive line was really solid. People had trouble running the football on us at the camp. Those four linebackers were flying around making plays again.”
El Dorado will host its own 7-on-7 tournament on Monday at the high school.