Contreras torches Gryphon defense
Are eight touchdown passes the single-game record for the Hot Springs Trojans?
“I don’t know,” Trojans head coach Darrell Burnett said after his team’s 61-30 mercy rule win over Little Rock Southwest Friday night at Tommy J. Holt Field at Joe Reese Stadium. “That’s a great question.”
If it is, the record belongs to Matthew Contreras. The junior shredded the Gryphons’ defense for eight touchdown passes averaging 36 yards in length, completing 15-of-25 attempts for 401 yards.
“That dude’s a playmaker,” Burnett said. “I’ve been saying he’s got one of the best arms in the state. He threw that (42-yard) bomb right on a dime.”
But it was one of the few long balls Contreras didn’t complete, as his receiver dropped it in the Gryphon end zone at the end of the first half. Had the pass been caught, the entire second half would’ve been played with a running clock. The Trojans had to settle for a 35-6 halftime lead, six points shy of the 35-point margin needed to trigger the mercy rule and its running clock.
The drop didn’t discourage Contreras. He completed all six of his third quarter attempts, including touchdowns of 11, 32 and 30 yards to Octavious Rhodes. Rhodes drew single coverage most of the night, using his 6-foot5-inch frame and long stride to pluck five touchdowns passes. He led all receivers with seven catches for 194 yards.
Southwest’s man-to-man defense was no match for the Trojan (2-1) receivers, who consistently got behind the Gryphon coverage. Derrick Hicks burned Southwest for the final time, streaking down the right hash for a 62-yard touchdown catch with 10:05 to play in the game.
Contreras’ perfectly thrown ball put the
Trojans ahead 61-22 and set the running clock in motion. Hicks finished with four catches for 116 yards and two scores.
“They played man,” Burnett said. “Sometimes they were over or under, so you go weak side. Then they were bracketing one of the other receivers, so you run the ball. It was just one of those things that worked out. We took advantage of it, and it was good for us.”
Southwest’s plan to blitz Contreras didn’t work. He switched up his snap cadence to keep the Gryphon (1-2) rushers off balance, inducing five offside penalties, including three in a row early in the second quarter.
“They tried to blitz, and we neutralized it a little bit by going hard count,” Burnett said. “When you’re a head coach and your guys are jumping off side, you don’t want to see that. That kind of took away the blitz. We made them get out of what they do.”
When the Gryphons did move Contreras off of his spot, he easily eluded their pressure and kept his eyes downfield. Scrambling left early in the first quarter, he threw across his body for a 36-yard touchdown to Hicks. Contreras’ 23-yard run on a read play midway through the third quarter was the Trojans’ longest run of the night.
Burnett wasn’t pleased with the 30 points his defense yielded, but the Trojans had nine tackles for losses and forced three and outs on six of the Gryphons’ 13 possessions. Kivan Barker, Kendell Williams, Kyin Jamerson and Aamir Andrews all recorded tackles for losses.
Jabron Lewis’ 97 yards and two touchdowns on 11 carries led the Gryphons. His 68-yard scoring run with 10:13 to play in the third quarter cut Hot Springs’ lead to 35-14. A 9-yard touchdown pass from Mokai Mohammed to Luther Tucker at the 4:09 mark of the third quarter held off the mercy rule until the fourth quarter.