Cobras, suddenly urgent, host Mena
Fountain Lake and Mena are eager to get off recent slides, the Cobras moreso than the Bearcats.
With Ashdown upsetting twotime reigning 4A-7 champ Arkadelphia in double overtime last week, Fountain Lake was kept from clinching a playoff spot. Two more losses would keep the Cobras home at playoff time, something they hope to forestall going into tonight’s game against Mena on Allen Tillery Field at Beckham Memorial Stadium.
Better now, says coach Tommy Gilleran, than next week at Ashdown.
“It’s a huge game for us,” Gilleran said. “If we win (tonight), we’re in the playoffs. If we lose, we’ve got to win next Friday for sure to get into the playoffs. So it’s a huge game for us. We want to win at home.
“Mena is a good football team. They’re very similar to us. They
don’t run the same offense as us, but they run the same defense and have the same kind of kids as us. Just some good, hard-working kids that play hard. It’s going to be a hit- each- other- in- the- face kind of game.”
With winless Waldron coming to town next week, Mena’s playoff prospects are much brighter. The Bearcats (6-2, 3-2) beat Ashdown in their 6-0 start. which ended when Mena ran the Arkadelphia-Nashville gauntlet. Nashville invoked the mercy rule early in the second half of its 35-7 road win over Mena last week.
Mena struggled without leading playmaker Jackson Daugherty, ejected from the previous week’s game at Arkadelphia. The Bearcats had only six yards and no first downs in the first half, not scoring until the final minute.
Daugherty is back, joining quarterback Sage Kesterson for an offense that averaged 37 points the first seven weeks. Both are capable runners in the read option, with Daugherty Kesterson’s main target in the conference’s leading passing attack.
“A lot of people say (Daugherty) is their best player, but we think their quarterback is their best player,” Gilleran said. “He’s the guy who runs the whole offense. If he went down, they’d be in trouble. But (Daughterty) is an excellent player. He’s fast and plays well both defensively and offensively.”
Daugherty has four interceptions for a defensive unit that surrendered 21 points a game during the winning streak but 37.5 per game the last two weeks.
Fountain Lake (5-2-1, 3-2) has had similar defensive struggles, surrendering 530- plus yards to Arkadelphia and Malvern in two of the past three weeks. And in the sandwiched 35-30 victory at Bauxite, the Miners dominated time of possession against Fountain Lake’s run-heavy offense.
The Cobras yielded 335 passing yards to Malvern’s Trace Collie and two 100-yard rushers in a 49-24 loss, Fountain Lake’s largest scoreboard yield since the 88-66 victory over Lakeside in 2008 that set the state record for most combined points. Bradford caught touchdown passes of 18, 24 and 44 among his five for 115 yards, teammate Keidric Dickens snagging eight for 129 yards and a score.
Fullback Parker Ross leads the Cobras and 4A-7 with 1,313 yards and 20 touchdowns on 148 carries.