Wolf defense comes up big against ‘Cats
PEARCY — Lake Hamilton coach Jeremy Reed said the motto for his football team this season has been “finish.” After second-half collapses led to losses in the second and third weeks, the Wolves fulfilled their motto Friday night against El Dorado.
In the 6A-West opener for both teams, Lake Hamilton scored the go-ahead touchdown on a three-yard run by Dafavioun Haywood in the fourth quarter and sacked Wildcat quarterback Darius Holly on fourth down with 4:27 left to seal a 27-21 win.
“It was a complete mindset by the kids not only on the field, but those on the sideline as well,” Reed said. “We worked very hard this week to correct those mistakes that killed us late in games the last couple weeks and it came to light, especially in the fourth quarter.”
After an 82-yard completion from Holly to Jaylen Green, El Dorado led 7-0 after the first quarter on Holly’s one-yard touchdown run. While the Wolves struggled to find their rhythm offensively, Jacob Porter forced a fumble and Jacob Nichols returned it 30 yards for a touchdown to even the score.
Kanaan Williams scored a second defensive touchdown on a 25-yard interception return in the third quarter to put Lake Hamilton up 21-14, one of four turnovers forced by the Wolves’ defense.
“We’ve kind of had a role reversal with our units the last two weeks,” said Reed. “The first two weeks, the offense played pretty well and the defense was struggling. The last two weeks defense played well and the offense struggled. Getting four turnovers on defense is tremendous.”
Shortly after the pick-six by Williams, the Wildcats evened the score at 21 on a 69-yard strike from Holly to Blake Cunningham in the final minute of the third quarter. On the ensuing drive, Johnathan Buss, Jackson Johnson and Cole Huneycutt combined for 42 yards rushing before Haywood finished it off with the goahead score.
“We executed much better in the second half offensively,” Reed said. “The first half was mostly us just not doing what we need to do, but the great thing is we got it corrected and we were able to score when we needed to.”
El Dorado marched into Lake Hamilton territory, reaching the 35 before Gage Montgomery’s sack of Holly ended any chance of a comeback.
“It was a huge momentum shift to get things back to our side there,” Reed said. “They were threatening to score, but we came up with a stop there at the end and after that we were able to get some first downs to run the clock out and that was really big.”
Lake Hamilton led 14-7 at halftime, Haywood connecting with Buss for a 10-yard score at the end of the second quarter. Holly tied the game at 14 on a seven-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter.
Buss led the Wolves with 101 yards rushing on 26 carries. Haywood completed three of five passes for 21 yards, adding 41 yards rushing on 13 carries.
“He had a solid performance for us tonight and that’s what we’ve been preaching all season,” Reed said of his quarterback. “We don’t have to have game-breaking plays all the time. We just need to do what we do and be sound with the football and he did a great job of that tonight. I’m real proud of his attitude and how he operated for us.”
Holly rushed for 48 yards on 10 carries and completed 11 of 15 passes for 215 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Anthony Thomas led the Wildcats with 69 yards rushing on 13 carries.
Lake Hamilton (2-2) travels to Texarkana on Friday.