Wolves to face Pointers, gearing up for state
PEARCY — After rolling to a 42-19 victory over Siloam Springs at home last week, Lake Hamilton will face off against Van Buren Friday night at Wolf Stadium.
The Wolves (6-0, 3-0 6A-West) are looking to capitalize on an already-deadly offense and increasingly-stout defense as they prepare for the Class 6A state tournament in a few short weeks.
Van Buren (3-4, 1-3) is coming off a 2820 loss to Little Rock Parkview (4-1, 1-1) last week. While the Pointers’ record is far from pristine, Lake Hamilton head coach Tommy Gilleran says they have a very solid team and can be hard to beat.
“You know, their record may not show it, but I think overall they do a good job,” he said. “Their offense is very skilled. They have really good skilled kids, and defensively they move around and do a lot of different things. So, I feel like overall, they cause a lot of problems for any team. So I feel like it’s going to be a tough task Friday, but if we play like we can, it’ll be really good for us.”
Gilleran said one thing he’s focusing on with the team is finishing games.
“I thought like last week our game — we played well all the way to the end,” he said.
“You know, prior the other games we kind of faltered in the second quarter and a little bit third quarter and we finished hard in the fourth quarter. You know, I want to play a complete game. I think we did that last week, and we want to continue to do that the rest of the year. We want to play four full quarters and not just here and there.”
The Wolves put up 440 yards of offense last week while scoring on nearly every possession of the game. Junior fullback Tevin Woodley rushed 14 times for 191 yards and a touchdown, and classmate Owen Miller rushed 14 times for 171 yards and three touchdowns, including a 51-yard breakaway on the team’s first play from scrimmage.
Defensively, senior Izaiah Clenney and sophomore Justin Crutchmer dominated the field with 14 tackles each. Junior Gavin Robbins added 12 and Trent Singleton 10. Robbins also had an interception, forced a fumble and recovered a fumble.
Gilleran said the team is healthy going into its Week 7 matchup.
“Everything seems to be on track,” he said. “We’ve got everybody back except for our quarterback, and he’ll be back next week. But everybody else is here ready.”
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.