Wildcats play at North Little Rock
NORTH LITTLE ROCK - El Dorado's preseason benefit game dress rehearsal at North Little Rock Friday exposed a few snags. The Class 7A Charging Wildcats prevailed 38-28 and led 31-7 after the starters played in the first half.
“North Little Rock's a really good football team. It was a good test to see where we're at. I thought we did some good things on both sides of the ball in the first half,” said El Dorado coach Steven Jones. “But we made some mistakes as well. It was a dress rehearsal to try to get a look at moving forward into Camden Fairview. We've got some good teach tape to look at and get everything cleaned up heading into our first game.”
Kamron Bibby scored on an 85-yard touchdown for the Wildcats' lone score in the first half.
“North Little Rock, defensively, made some plays in the second quarter. They outplayed us in the second quarter,” said Jones. “I thought we did a pretty good job early in the game, setting the edge and containing their speed. They had a really fast running back. In the second quarter, I think our worst quarter of the night was probably our second quarter on both sides of the ball, missing tackles. North Little Rock had a couple big plays. We had, probably, three big plays called back for holding calls, just first game things.
“We look forward to a good week of practice and getting all of that cleaned up.”
El Dorado had a better showing in the second half with its second unit. The Wildcats were looking for depth and may have found some.
“In the second half, we got to see a lot of the second team guys. The big deal I talked about was trying to find some depth. One guy that stood out was Sam Kimble, our junior outside linebacker,” Jones said. “He did a good job attacking in space and setting the edge. Outside linebacker is a spot we're still trying to find depth at so that was a bright spot.
“Jamison Dumas threw the football very well, threw t wo touchdowns in the second half, both to
TJ Dunn.
TJ made a couple big plays in the second half as well.”
Jones said his squad did not lose any players to injury in the game, which was a big goal.
“We got to run our special teams on and off the field and see those transitions,” said Jones. “Our kicker, Rojemi Aydogdu, was perfect on PATs. He did miss about a 32-yard field in the second half. But he was perfect on PATs. I thought that was good.”
Overall for El Dorado, the scoreboard wasn't a thing of beauty but it also didn't count. The Wildcats open the season on Thursday at Camden Fairview. Jones believes competing at North Little Rock will be beneficial.
“I'm really grateful we were able to compete with such a good program in North Little Rock to give us a look at where we are. I think North Little Rock is probably the best team we'll see all year,” he said. “Their defensive front, they had some monsters up there. We did some good things both sides of the ball. I feel like we're still in a good place heading into week one. Our guys are excited to play Camden Fairvew.”