El Dorado discovered a cure for its red zone woes on Friday. The Wildcats scored touchdowns from long range in a 44-6 victory over Greene County Tech at Memorial Stadium.
The Wildcats improved to 1-2 overall and 1-1 in 6A-East play. The Eagles fell to 1-2, 0-2.
“It was great to get a victory tonight. We needed it. Our kids earned it. They played hard,” said El Dorado coach Steven Jones. “That’s something to build on headed into next week in Benton.”
El Dorado scored on a 59-yard run, three touchdown passes of 28 yards or more, a 71-yard kickoff return and a 40-yard interception return.
Kolin Parker completed 13-of-19 passes for 216 yards and three touchdowns. DeAndra Burns, Jr., had eight receptions for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Shadarious Plummer had seven rushes for 96 yards and a touchdown. Burns also accounted for 66 yards in punt returns. Dominique Grimes had two catches for 57 yards and a touchdown.
The Wildcats accounted for 412 yards in total offense.
“I thought offensively we struggled a little bit in the second quarter and into the third quarter to finish drives. But I was proud of how resilient our kids are. They just continue to compete,” said Jones. “I thought we made some big plays in the second half. Kolin Parker came on and had some good throws. I thought the wideouts played well. DeAndra Burns had a big night and Dominique Grimes stepped up and had a big game. TJ Dunn had a couple good catches. We had some guys making plays out there in space. Elijah Davis and Thomas Smith was a good 1-2 punch in the second half running the football, too.”
El Dorado unveiled a new offensive wrinkle to start the game with Plummer at quarterback and Burns in the backfield. The Wildcats ran read-option with Plummer keeping each time for chunk yards between the tackles.
“We’re going to continue to build that and how we line up DeAndra in multiple positions and let Shadarious take snaps at quarterback. He’s just such a dangerous player and so is DeAndra so we’ll continue to use that,” Jones said. “That’ll be a big part of our offense moving forward but Kolin stepped up tonight and played well in the second half. It’s good to have some options.”
Plummer didn’t play in the second half. Jones said the senior just wasn’t feeling well so he stayed on the sideline. He’s expected to be back next week.
Defensively, El Dorado held Greene County Tech to 42 yards in total offense, including 35 on the ground on 27 attempts.
“Our defense played sound. I thought we tackled well. That was something we were looking to improve,” said Jones. “I thought our defensive line gave their big offensive line some trouble. I was really pleased with that. Coach Ables had a good game-plan to stop the run and they carried it out. I hate that we had the punt blocked to not have the shutout because the defense earned the shutout tonight.”
The Wildcats opened the game with a drive from its own 14 to the Eagles’ 20 before turning the ball over on downs.
After the defense forced a three-and-out, El Dorado went 46 yards in two plays. Parker hit Burns for a 28-yard touchdown with 6:35 left in the first. Javier Rivas kicked the extra point.
The Wildcats struck again two minutes later when Plummer kept on the option and ran 59 yards for the touchdown. Rivas’ PAT pushed the lead to 14-0 with 4:40 left in the first.
That would conclude the scoring as the rest of the half turned into Flag Day. The Wildcats were hit with nine penalties in the first half for 100 yards. They had two touchdowns nullified by penalty flags.
Greene County Tech had nine penalties for 72 yards in the first half.
The Eagles scored with 9:05 in the third on a blocked punt recovered in the end zone. It was set up by a 63-yard punt downed at the El Dorado 2.
The Wildcats answered immediately with TJ Dunn returning the ensuing kickoff 71 yards for the touchdown. Davis ran for the conversion and a 22-6 lead with 8:54 left in the third.
Parker hooked up with Grimes on a 48-yard TD toss, followed up by another 2-point run by Davis at the 4:13 mark. Parker and Burns connected on a 41-yard touchdown after a double move with 1:40 left in the third. Davis’ 2-point run put El Dorado up 38-6 after a 24-point third quarter explosion.
Bryson King’s 40-yard interception return for a touchdown concluded the scoring with 8:07 left in the fourth.