Wildcats prepared for second trip around 6A East

El Dorado experienced its first taste of the 6A East last season. The Wildcats will get a second dose this year with a schedule that includes six away games.

Coach Steven Jones didn’t bat an eye at the schedule, which has just four home games.

“It is what it is. That’s just how it’s stacked up as far as conference play goes,” he said. “You’d like to have five and five every season. But when it gets down to it, there’s going to be times you have more home games and this is the year we’ll be on the road a lot. It’s unfortunate because last year we had a stacked home schedule and then one of those games was canceled. But, we’ll be on the road six times this season.”

Due to El Dorado’s location in the southern part of the state, there will be long drives during league play regardless of the conference. The East though, features teams (West Memphis and Marion) on the Arkansas-Tennessee border, which is a monster drive along with Jonesboro. Searcy and Sylvan Hills aren’t picnics, either, late Friday nights.

“Our conference is pretty spread out. I’ve mentioned before, when the AAA assigns the conferences, they get all the big schools set and see where they have a spot left and that’s where they throw El Dorado,” Jones said, perhaps sarcastically. “We’ve bounced back and forth between the West and the East since I’ve been here. Who knows where we’ll be next year and who will even be in the conference? For this year, we have some pretty long trips. We have to go West Memphis. We have to go to Sylvan Hills. We have to go to Jonesboro. We have to go to Cabot.”

Long drives or not, the Wildcats just hope to make every trip. Last year, games against Jonesboro and Pine Bluff were canceled and ruled no contest due to COVID-19.

The Arkansas Activities Association ruled this year if a team has to miss a game, it will be ruled a forfeit. Quarantine rules were relaxed during the summer but could change at any moment.

“They know the deal as far as quarantine situations and things like that. They understand what’s going to be asked of them and how we’re going to handle that,” said Jones. “It’s just like anything else in the world, right now. It’s day-to-day. Something could change tomorrow. We try to bring all of our focus to what’s going on on the field and just trying to work as hard as we can within the guidelines that are set and get better every day.”

Preseason polls tabbed El Dorado as third in the league this season. Fortunately and, hopefully, the games will be determined on the field.

“As far as the conference favorite, Sylvan Hills won the conference last year and they return a good amount of starters from their team,” Jones said. “You ask our locker room, they’re going to tell you we’re the favorites to win the conference.”