Wolves, Panthers aim for 6A West title
Benton will travel to Lake Hamilton tonight, and one of the two teams will earn their first 6A West loss.
The Wolves (8-0, 5-0) are looking to defend the possibility of a perfect season while the Panthers (5-3, 5-0) look to earn the conference title with the win, after defeating Greenwood a week ago.
Lake Hamilton will rely on its Wing-T offense and its ability to run the seam while making big plays on the ground. Head coach Tommy Gilleran said that the Spread offense that Benton runs is familiar to his players, who have seen it multiple times throughout the course of the season.
“They’re a spread-oriented team,” he said. “They’re 50-50 on run-pass; they’ve got a running back that they do a good job with him running. Defensively, they’re a 3-4 team, and it’s made to stop the Spread, so we’ll see how they adjust to a run-oriented team like we are.
“Our kids have seen that stuff all year; [they’ll] be ready for whatever Benton brings. They’ve seen the spread all year, so they’re used to that. They should have a good mindset of what’s going to happen.”
While Benton graduated multiple experienced players last year, Gilleran recognizes the fact that the Panthers are still a threat while the Wolves gear up for what could be an arduous matchup.
“Last year they had a lot more seniors on their team [and] on the offensive line, so they had a lot of pieces,” he said. “They had some really good receivers. This year, they have some good receivers but not as good as they were last year. They have No. 2, Gavin Wells; he’s one of the best ones they’ve got.
“I feel like last year they were more senior-laden than they are this year, but they’re still a really good football team because they took down a really good Greenwood team.”
While Lake Hamilton looks to hone in on its running game, Gilleran anticipates that Benton will make offensive adjustments when necessary.
“They may try to run it at first to see if they can run it down our throat; if not, they’ll start going to the air,” he said.
With Lake Hamilton quarterback Layne Warrick sidelined due to injuries from last week’s game, backup Zach Bradley will assume the starting role, commanding the huddle for the second time this season after stepping in last week against Sheridan.
“Our kids are excited,” Gilleran noted. “Even Friday night when Layne went down and we put Zach in, the kids rallied around him and that’s what they’ve done all week. They’re expecting to go out there and win Friday night, so just be
cause Layne’s not out there, [that] doesn’t stop them from wanting to win a conference title. If we win, we’ll have a share of the conference title.”
With a lack of playing time and reps in practice leading the team, Gilleran recognizes the sudden pressure placed on Bradley, and he confirms that there are guidelines in place to ensure his safety and productivity.
“We didn’t do a lot of stuff with him because he hadn’t been in there and he hasn’t gotten a lot of reps in practice, so a lot of things he did was just get us in and out of plays,” he noted of Bradley’s performance last week. “He did a lot of handing the ball off; I never really made him throw the ball, and so we kind of just kept it on the ground and made sure we managed the game right and didn’t put him in a bad situation.”
With Lake Hamilton returning home to host its last two regular season games at Bank OZK Field, Gilleran expressed his team’s relief to be on home turf.
“After being on the road the last two weeks, it’s good to be home and not having to travel around,” he added. “It’s going to be nice to be here and playing in front of our own crowd.”