Wildcats go toe-to-toe with North Little Rock

El Dorado's Rayvarius Joe picks up yards after a catch against North Little Rock. The Wildcats played the Charging Wildcats in a benefit game Friday at Memorial Stadium.
El Dorado's Rayvarius Joe picks up yards after a catch against North Little Rock. The Wildcats played the Charging Wildcats in a benefit game Friday at Memorial Stadium.

El Dorado's benefit game against North Little Rock on Friday produced a mixed bag of positives and negatives. The first two quarters featured starters on both teams and ended with the 7A Charging Wildcats scoring a pair of touchdowns to one for El Dorado.

The second half used a running clock with both team's reserves on the field. North Little Rock scored twice before El Dorado found the end zone in the fourth quarter.

“Going toe-to-toe with a team that we feel like will compete for a 7A state championship - very physical North Little Rock team, just going punch for punch with those guys, we’re real pleased with that," said El Dorado coach Steven Jones.

“With your scrimmage you know going into it you’re going to have some things to clean up. We found some things we can focus on, just making sure people know with changes on special teams, who’s in and just the Friday night flow of that. I feel like we have to pick that up a little bit. Offensively, it was some good and some bad. I thought we ran the ball well at times. Pass protection, I thought we were O.K. at times and North Little Rock got the best of us at times, too. There’s a lot of things to look at and fix but, overall, we’re really pleased. The thought going into tonight was we feel like we’re miles ahead of where we were last year as far as what we have in. Tonight, I felt the same coming out of the game. We’re way ahead of where we wanted to be."

Senior Kolin Parker quarterbacked the first half, finishing, unofficially with 189 yards passing on 16-of-31 attempts with two interceptions and one touchdown. DeAndra Burns, Jr., had five receptions for 81 yards. That included a spectacular diving grab on a 36 yarder, setting up El Dorado's touchdown, a 3-yard toss to Torenzo Dunn, two plays later.

"He threw some good balls, threw some bad balls," Jones said of Parker. "But the thing that stood out about him was he never got rattled. He responded every time positively. He’s going to be fine.”

Parker completed five consecutive passes on El Dorado's opening drive. The Wildcats had a first-and-goal from the 4 before a holding penalty forced a third and long. Parker's pass into the end zone was intercepted.

“We wanted to score. That was frustrating to go all the way down the field and not punch it in. We have some things to clean up there," said Jones. "But, yeah, to come out, make some plays and move straight down the field, I’d like to see us capitalize but we did some good stuff offensively. DeAndra Burns made a couple big catches. TJ Dunn made some plays tonight. I thought Demarcus Young played well. We rotated a lot of different personnel in. With the first team in there, I don’t think we had any busts on assignments."

A high shotgun snap foiled the Wildcats' second possession and a fumble after a short pass stopped the third possession. The Charging Wildcats would score on a 34-yard run.

Of the shotgun snaps, Jones said, "I think we only had, maybe, one in the first half. Japhen Baker has got a lot of experience playing center. He’ll get that cleaned up. You expect things like that in the first game. I don’t consider that concerning."

El Dorado's defense, with just two returning starters, held up well against North Little Rock's rushing attack. The Charging Wildcats' other score was set up by an interception near midfield. Two plays later, they scored on a 19-yard pass.

“North Little Rock’s offense is very physical. Our defense stood out. I thought, overall, just the M.O. of the defense, we were more physical than I’ve seen in a long time," Jones said. "We made a lot of plays, tackled well in space. Our defensive line, North Little Rock’s coaches, that’s who stood out to them. I think our defensive line is probably our strong point there. We had some guys make plays in space and that’s good to see.”

El Dorado used three quarterbacks in the second half with Jon Brooks Elia, Jameson Dumas and Kerry Shelton all getting at least one series. Shelton, a sophomore, led the Wildcats to the end zone, completing a 30-yard pass to J'Prince Roberson before finding Dominique Grimes for a 55-yard touchdown pass.

The Wildcats will have a week to prepare for the season opener, which will be Sept. 2 against Camden Fairview.

"I thought effort overall was outstanding. Our guys played hard. I don’t have any concerns as far as where we’re at physically," said Jones. "I thought strength-wise we held our own. As far as being conditioned, I thought we held up, didn’t have any cramps or things like that. Overall, we’re ready to play."

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