Wildcats run through Sylvan Hills 42-13
El Dorado celebrated its Homecoming with a tidy 42-13 victory over Sylvan Hills Friday at Memorial Stadium. The Wildcats led 42-7 at the half and improved to 4-4 overall and 3-4 in 6A East play. The Bears fell to 0-8, 0-6.
It was the first home win of the season for El Dorado.
“It was good,” said Coach Chris Hill. “We didn't play real clean the first half. We had too many unforced errors. But we were able to put some points on the board and I thought our defense played really well. We were able to get that big lead at halftime and finally played decent at home. I'm glad our home fans were finally able to see us play. Big crowd there for Homecoming. It was a big night for the Wildcats.”
Sophomore Mitchell Polk completed 10-of20 passes for 262 yards and four touchdowns, all in the first half. J Prince Roberson had four receptions for 91 yards and a touchdown. Thomas Smith rushed for 61 yards on 12 carries with a touchdown.
El Dorado's reserves played the second half with a running clock.
“Mitchell is getting better each week. He distributed the ball around to several different players. A lot of guys got some playing time.
The guys that were with group two got to play the whole second half so that was a big plus,” said Hill.
“We got suckered on that double pass but then I thought our defense did a good job, got a lot of pressure on the quarterback. I would've liked to have had a couple turnovers, but I thought they played well.”
Sylvan Hills bobbled the opening kickoff and was tackled at its own 8-yard line. It proved a harbinger of things to come. The next three plays netted a loss of three yards and a punt.
The Wildcats took the ball at midfield. Smith ran for 20 and Polk connected with Paxton Strong for 26 before Bretaveon Brown scored on a 7-yard run up the middle. Cooper Henry kicked the first of his six PATs with 8:31 left in the first quarter.
El Dorado scored again on a one-play drive when Polk hooked up with Caden Perry on a 64-yard touchdown with 5:50 left in the first. The
lead swelled to 21-0 with 1:03 left in the first when Brown took a swing pass from Polk and rumbled 35 yards into the end zone, lowering his head and bulling over a defender along the way.
The Bears quieted the Homecoming crowd, going into their bag of tricks for a double-pass with Christian Fields catching the ball and then firing to Nigel Casey, who was all alone behind El Dorado's secondary. The play covered 60 yards. Alexander Buhlman's PAT cut the deficit to 21-7 with 42 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Sylvan Hills would not get another first down in the half.
Polk capped a fourplay drive with a 41-yard touchdown toss to Roberson with 8:54 left in the second. The Wildcats scored again, overcoming a 17-yard lost-yardage play. Polk hit Strong for 30 and scrambled for 14 before Smith scored on an 8-yard run, stretching the lead to 35-7 with 4:29 left in the half.
El Dorado closed the half with an 11-play drive highlighted by Roberson's 30-yard catch-and-run to the 4-yard line. Roberson dragged a defender 10 yards before being dragged out of bounds. Two plays later, Polk hit Cannon Jacobs in the end zone from four yards out with three seconds on the clock.
Roberson had three receptions on the drive.
“He's really come on the last couple of weeks and had another good game tonight,” said Hill. “You can see the confidence growing in him. Proud to see him have another good game.”
The Bears scored with 4:25 left in the fourth quarter on Tyler Hampton's 82-yard pass to Kabrein Buchanan for the final margin.
El Dorado earned back-to-back wins for the first time this season. The Wildcats close the season at Little Rock Catholic and at home against Jacksonville with work still left to get into the playoffs.
“We talked after the Searcy game that we need to get on a four-game winning streak. We've got two down and two to go. We'll watch the film and try to fix mistakes, try to get better and then head to Little Rock next week,” said Hill.
“We've got to win one of the next two. We'd like to win both of them of course. If we take care of this next week, we're not heading into Week 10 with a do-or-die situation. Hopefully we can take care of business with a win at Catholic next week.”