Wolves offense too much for Trojan defense
PEARCY — Despite having a strong start defensively, Hot Springs’ defense could not compete with the high-powered offense that Lake Hamilton displayed Friday night as the Wolves cruised to a 48-6 win at Bank OZK Field.
Hot Springs (1-2) slowed Lake Hamilton (3-0) down early, holding the Wolves to just 11 yards on the first four plays of the game before junior quarterback Layne Warrick found junior receiver Destin Rhodes about 20 yards down the field. Rhodes reeled in the catch and turned up the field, outrunning the Trojans defense for a 69-yard touchdown just 2:10 into the game.
“We’ve been talking about making sure your eyes are in the right spot, getting our eyes in the backfield, [and] we don’t read our keys,” said Hot Springs head coach Darrell Burnett. “The wing back crosses the middle of the field, wide open, and it breaks the morale of your team. Especially when we came out the first few plays and you play real aggressive, stop the run. You know they’re going to pass it. We told them. … We just didn’t get our eyes where they needed to be.”
The Trojans offense could not get going, turning the ball over less than a minute later.
“[We] get off the field, give the offense the chance to score,” Burnett said. “Statistics show that you stop a team and you score first, there’s an 83% chance of you winning. We didn’t do that. We played undisciplined football.”
Lake Hamilton head coach Tommy Gilleran was pleased with his team’s defensive play.
“Defensively, we played better,” he said. “We did some things different, tried to help our corners out a little bit and had another safety over the top some. Trying to help our corners not have to be man-on-man so much. And so we tried to help out on that. That’s what we were doing. I think it was the big difference.”
Tevin Woodley, who demolished the Trojans interior with punishing runs, took his third handoff 42 yards for another Wolves touchdown at the 6:57 mark. From that point, the Trojans defense could not find any good fortune until the second quarter as the Wolves added touchdowns on each of their next three drives to take a 34-0 lead.
“He’s been doing good all year,” Burnett said. “That’s what I can say about that whole backfield — quarterback [Warrick], full back [Woodley] and No. 4 [Owen Miller].
“But it goes back to we didn’t even line like we’re supposed to. Something as simple as if you line up inside the guard, they’ve got the angles on you. On that side we’re supposed to line up outside the guard. That would have forced the guard to block out. Therefore your inside linebacker gets to see a clear picture of who needs to knock the crap out of and force back into the other guy. We don’t line up right, they can hit it at a different angle, and your back side safety is so far back away that he can’t get over there fast enough. But if you line up outside, the safety ain’t gotta get there; it’s your other inside linebacker.”
Rhodes, whose two catches were both for touchdowns, finished with 107 yards while filling in for the injured Braden Broughton.
“Of course, offensively, we’ve been
playing pretty good all year,” Gilleran said. “I think probably the biggest thing is our offensive line. They execute at a high level, and then our backs run so dang hard — all three of them. And Destin Rhodes, he kind of came in for [Braden] Broughton, No. 24, he played well. Of course, he had two receiving touchdowns tonight. He was actually a tight end for us, but we are out of guys. Last week he played OK; he played pretty good. And then, heck, he’s a big kid, and he catches the ball so good. His blocking’s gotten better, so he’s done a really good job.”
The Trojans finally got their offense clicking late in the second quarter, using 13 plays to move the ball 73 yards to find the end zone, burning 5:34 off the clock.
Gilleran was also pleased with Woodley, who scored three of the team’s seven touchdowns while rushing 16 times for 176 yards, and Miller, who had 10 carries for 79 yards.
“He does [have more speed than he appears to have], and he has strength, too,” Gilleran said of Woodley. “Here’s the thing by him and Owen both. Last week, it was Owen’s day; they were taking away the fullback. And this week, they took away the halfback, which opened up the fullback.
“They both work at it so hard in the weight room, at practice — it’s unbelievable. And I think it pays off on Friday nights. And I know Owen didn’t have as many yards, but he still had a lot of yards.”
Hot Springs had only two more attempts in the game, moving the ball 57 yards in eight plays to start the second half. Unfortunately for the Trojans, the ball was fumbled on a second and goal situation from the 3 yard line, and Lake Hamilton senior linebacker Zach Bradley recovered it at the Wolves’ 18. Six plays later, the ball was again in the end zone for the Wolves.
Burnett said that despite the outcome, he saw good things from several defenders. Junior Devin Johnson and senior David Carter led the team with eight tackles each, senior Santiair Thomas added seven, and senior Devin Hill and sophomore Michael Jackson added six apiece.
“The one thing I can say about them is they played hard,” he said. “Came back in the second half and finished. It is hard to say too many guys played good. It’s hard to say the coaches coached good when you get whupped like that. The biggest thing is our kids, they didn’t quit; they kept fighting. We’ve just gotta, we gotta put a better game together than what we did as a whole team, from top to bottom. At the end of the day, it starts with me.”
Braden Qualls led the Wolves defense with eight tackles, Izaiah Clenney had seven stops and Bradley finished with three stops.
“They’re getting better and better,” Gilleran said. “Of course, Qualls was like the second leading tackler last year for our team. We knew he’d have a good year. Then Lautaimi [Nasilai] is playing pretty good, and our interior six has been playing good all year, it’s just our back end has got to get better.”
While the Trojans enter the conference season this week with a 1-2 record, Burnett feels like the team is prepared for what it will see in the 5A South.
“I know Mena was ranked No. 6 in 4A, which is a tough conference,” he said. “I coached at that level. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lake Hamilton ranked in the top 10, knowing what they’re doing offensively and with their 3-0 [record]. But the biggest thing you get out of non-conference is you hate to go backwards.
“You’ve got to win that game last week. That puts you at 2-0, and at worst you’re 2-1 or 3-0. Right now, we’re not. We’re going to McClellan. As a matter of fact, I told them tonight, get ready. Get this out of the way, throw all types of punches and try to get us a win.”
The Wolves travel to El Dorado (1-2) on Friday for a 6 p.m. game at Memorial Stadium to open the conference season. Hot Springs has a short week as it will be on the road at Little Rock McClellan (2-1) for a 7 p.m. game Thursday in the Fearless Friday Game of the Week.