El Dorado set to take on Greenwood in 6A clash.
No. 1 vs. No. 2 … in Week 5.
What does it really mean?
El Dorado, ranked No. 2 by Hootens.com and the Associated Press, travels to topranked Greenwood tonight. Is the matchup of 4-0 teams, at the very least, for the 6A-West championship?
“It is this week?” said El Dorado coach Scott Reed with a wry smile. “On a positive note, I would love to think we’re in the hunt for a conference title. But, I don’t think you could ever say, no matter who’s playing, that the first game is for the conference title. I just think that’s hard to say for anybody. I think it’s a big game.
“Everyone I’ve talked to seems to think they’re, by far, the best team in 6A, right now. But, that’s all opinion. I think they’re really good. Watching them on film, they’ll be the best team we will have played so far this year. It’ll be a really good test of where we are.”
The Bulldogs went 12-1 last season, including two victories, 20-3 and 49-21, over the Wildcats. El Dorado’s last win over Greenwood was 24-14 in 2014.
The Bulldogs have averaged 43.7 points per game this season with wins over Fort Smith Northside (34-7), Fort Smith Southside (49-0), Alma (54-28) and Texarkana (3817). Senior quarterback Connor Noland has committed to the University of Arkansas and triggers the spread offensive attack.
“The speed and the tempo at which they play,” defensive coordinator Justin Wylie answered when asked what problems Greenwood bring. “They’re really good at what they do. They’re really good in space. That is a big difference than what we’ve seen the last three weeks. Everything has been between the tackles,
ground and pound, three yards and a cloud of dust. Those guys get out in space, try to create one-on-one matchups and they’re really good at them.”
Senior Kenny Wood runs out of the backfield and teams with junior receiver Peyton Holt as Bulldogs to key on in the open field. But, Noland is the prime weapon.
“He’s the real deal,” said Wylie. “He has an arm. He can sling it. He’s unlike anybody we’ve seen. He’s very effective when he runs.
“They try to pick their spots when they run him. When he scrambles, he scrambles with his eyes still down the field. I’ve seen a couple touchdowns where he throws deep balls over people’s heads because when he runs around and he buys time and they just don’t cover their guy and he’ll hit him for 20 yards behind the DB. He’s a good player.”
Greenwood’s offensive line features four seniors and averages 275.4 pounds from tackle-to-tackle.
For the Wildcats, tackling in the open field will be the key to success.
“They’re quick and they’re shifty. If we’re not good at tackling in space, they’re going to expose that,” said Wylie. “That’s been a point of emphasis all year long. They can make you miss and go score. (Holt) against Alma, caught a ball, fumbled it, picked it up about the 20, broke about four or five tackles and went and scored.”
Defensively, the Bulldogs use a 3-4 alignment, featuring 6-1, 286-pound senior Jon Womack at nose guard.
“The nose, Jon Womack is really good. He is relentless,” said Reed. “I think their whole group is that way. They have four guys who started against us and a couple others who played a lot.
“They have both corners back. They’re both good players. They play a lot of man coverage. They have experience. They run to the ball well.
“Style-wise, I would say they’re like Cabot. They want to do everything they can not to let you run it. They trust their guys on the back end to play man coverage. The deference is, they’re much more multiple as far as the way they align. Greenwood will move ‘em around, bring more looks, different kinds of pressures, some more coverage stuff. They don’t sit in a 50 all the time.”
El Dorado’s playmakers, including receivers Shun Levingston, Keshun Greene and Taliq Ellis, will be called upon to make plays against man coverage, along with quarterbacks Darius Holly and Alex Hicks.
“If all of our guys are making plays, that’ll be good. If they make us to where we’re one-dimensional, that’ll be tough,” said Reed. “I think our guys are going to make some plays in space. I do. The issue with them in the past, they’ve got us down after a 20 or 30-yard gain, instead of us going to the house like we did the other night against Lake Hamilton. And, we need to be able to run the ball like we‘ve been doing it.”
In a 35-13 win over Lake Hamilton last week, the Wildcats gained 416 yards, forced five turnovers and were still in a one-possession game in the final period. Reed said “hidden yards” haunted the Wildcats.
“The things that are concerning to me are the hidden yards. We’re losing weekly hidden yards,” he said. “Hidden yards are penalty yards, yards that we don’t gain in the kicking game. For example, last week we had two interception returns called back because of penalties. That probably cost us, in the grand scheme of it, about 60 yards. One of the returns was over 30 yards and then you add a penalty to the back end of it for a block in the back, that was more like 45 yards on one play. And then we had way too many offensive penalties - we had a holding penalty and way too many procedure penalties. What they do in big games is they cost you series. You can’t continue to overcome those kinds of penalties.
“With Lake Hamilton, you look at our total yards and they turned the ball over five times. They shouldn’t have been in the ball game. We kept them in the ball game with some of the things we did. Lost opportunities on offense, penalties, hidden yards. You can’t beat a really good team, giving that away. And, we’re doing that right now.”
On the road, the Wildcats have been tabbed as the underdogs for the 7 p.m. contest. Reed believes his team will be ready for the challenge.
“I thought we were flat last week. Practice this week has been much better. You can tell … kids know. I don‘t have to tell them. There’s a different edge,” said Reed.
“If we don’t give things away, it should be a heck of a game, could be four quarters, down to the wire.”