Rams, Wolves set for rivalry duel in season opener
Lakeside and Lake Hamilton rekindled their rivalry on the football field in 2018, and entering its fourth consecutive year, the Rams and Wolves will kick off the new season tonight at Wolf Stadium.
Lake Hamilton holds a 3-0 record in the rivalry since 2018 and this year’s contest is set up to be a good one.
The Wolves are coming off an 11-2 season and a trip to the state championship game, while the Rams finished last year 7-4 and are coming into the matchup with offensive weapons all over the field.
“You know probably offensively, it’s probably, you know skill-wise, the most they’ve ever had,” Lake Hamilton head coach Tommy Gilleran said. “Probably the only difference is they had a quarterback last year that had played for two years. This one here (senior Jordan Mills), he’s a good one, too, but he’s not a two-year starter. He’s a first year starter, so that’s one advantage we may have.”
The southpaw quarterback looked composed in the Rams’ scrimmage game against Nashville last week, but Lake Hamilton will present a different test.
Last season Mills was a backup to Will Ross and only attempted six passes all year. Despite the lack of experience on the field, Lakeside head coach Jared McBride emphasized Mills’ leadership role on the team.
“I think they just see the way he works and how hard he works and the time that he puts in and know that he wants to win for the Rams,” McBride said. “With that, they follow and they put in that extra work. They all trust each other. They’ve all played together for a long time.”
Gilleran said his team will have to score on every drive to keep up with the Rams, and he also highlighted Lakeside’s two running backs, Chance Cross and Braylen Russell, along with the Rams’ receiving crew.
Cross will have to take over the load from the graduated Isaac Echols.
Last season, Echols carried the ball 108 times for 682 yards while Cross tallied 51 carries for 210 yards.
“We’re going to be challenged on defense because of the amount of speed they have but also the ability they have,” Gilleran said. “Defensively we’re going to have to limit the possessions but also when we have a chance to make a play we’ve got to make the play.”
Offensively, Lake Hamilton returned it’s backfield stars from last season, but the team did have to replace much of its offensive line. Senior fullback Tevin Hughes and halfback Owen Miller, who accounted for 1,925 and 1,769 rushing yards, respectively, last season, return for the Wolves.
If those two weren’t challenging enough to stop, junior wing back Kendrick Martin will also feature this season. Last year he accounted for 718 yards on the ground.
Hughes accounted for 22 touchdowns while Miller was close behind with 21 and Martin contributed seven last year.
McBride said Lake Hamilton’s style of offense is a little different than what his team sees each week, so the Rams have had to make some adjustments in practice.
“They’re always big and physical,” McBride said. “They’re well-coached. They’re going to be in the right spot and not make many mistakes. That makes
for a tough team to beat, so we’ve got a large challenge ahead of ourselves come Friday night, but our team will be up to it.”
The matchup isn’t just enticing on the field itself, but the game pits two Garland County schools and communities against each other in a big time rivalry.
“Yeah, I mean they’re excited,” Gilleran said. “It’s a big rivalry game for this community. These kids, too, since they know most of the kids over there. They have personal relations with them. I’m sure they’re talking back and forth a little bit about what we’re going to do and what they’re going to do. It’s a huge deal for this community, and I know for Lakeside, too.”
McBride said his team is already excited simply because it’s the first game of the year, but of course the fact it’s against a cross-county rival adds to the atmosphere.
“To add that it’s Lake Hamilton, and it’s just a big game,” McBride said. “There’s a lot of competition between our schools in different academic and athletic events. It’s going to be another good challenge come Friday night.”
Lake Hamilton will have home field advantage as Gilleran emphasized the importance of fans and a normal gameday experience.
“We want all the fans to come out all year long,” Gilleran said. “Now that we’re back to full capacity, we want to flood the stands with a bunch of people and get excited just about having a regular football game, not 300 fans or all that stuff we did last year. Let’s have a regular football game with excitement, cheerleaders and band and everything that goes with a football game that we missed last year because of COVID.”
Kickoff tonight at Wolf Stadium is set for at 7 p.m.
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