Turnovers cost Wolves in Russellville

Two turnovers by Lake Hamilton resulted in two touchdowns, the margin of victory, for Russellville Friday night as the Wolves lost, 28-14, at Russellville’s Cyclone Stadium.

Lake Hamilton (4-2, 1-2 6A-West) had four fumbles in the game, losing two, and both turned into touchdowns for the Cyclones (4-2, 2-1).

The Wolves lost the ball on their first drive, giving Russellville its first score and the early lead.

The first fumble we had, they picked up and ran it back for their first touchdown, so now it’s 7-0,” said Lake Hamilton head coach Tommy Gilleran. “The other turnover we had was on our end, and they scored on it, too. So, two of their touchdowns were caused by the offense. That was the difference.”

The Wolves struggled with fumbles last season.

“I don’t think it’s going to be an issue again,” Gilleran said Saturday. “It just happened last night. Some mistakes were made. We’ve just got to play sharper.”

Both teams struggled with penalties with a total of 17 flags thrown against both. Lake Hamilton took the brunt of the yardage with 10 calls for 61 yards, while the Cyclones were penalized 55 yards.

“And we had two of our touchdowns called back due to penalties,” Gilleran said. “We had six holds, five holds, something like that, and every time it was on a big play. One of them was like 20 yards, and the other was like 17 or 18, but still a touchdown.”

Junior running backs Malik Brewer and Dealond Lewis dominated the field for the Wolves, putting up 309 of the team’s 394 yards, but the offense struggled with passing. Sophomore quarterback Layne Warrick completed just2 of 9 passes for 28 yards.

Brewer had 25 carries for 200 yards and a touchdown, and Lewis had 17 carries for 102 yards. Sophomore Carlos Brewer had 10 carries for 47 yards and the Wolves’ other score.

Jaidon Palmer averaged over 20 yards per catch for the Cyclones with 10 catches for 201 yards and two touchdowns.

“He was a pretty good little hand,” Gilleran said. “We didn’t know how good he was going to be, but he was a lot better than we thought. They threw it to him a bunch, which was smart, just like we handed it to our kids a bunch. He’s a good player.”

Gilleran said he was impressed with his team’s defense, noting juniors Braden Broughton and Braden Qualls led the team with 16 and 13 tackles, respectively.

“I thought overall, our defense played well, only gave up 200 yards passing,” he said. “Then there was 93 yards rushing, or something like that.”

Regardless of the outcome, Gilleran said that the team continued to fight.

“We fought to the end,” he said. “We’ve got to clean up those mistakes. We’ve got young kids on offense — got a sophomore quarterback, and the only person back from last year is Malik.”

The Wolves host Siloam Springs (3-3, 1-2) for homecoming on Friday night.