PEARCY -- Despite limited scoring opportunities, Lake Hamilton turned back Sheridan 14-7 Friday night at Wolf Stadium.
The Lake Hamilton Wolves (5-3, 4-1 conference) were able to pick up a 14-7 victory over Sheridan (1-7, 0-5 conference) Friday night, overcoming a Yellowjacket defense that limited their scoring opportunities.
The Wolves led 14-7 after two touchdowns by Ramar Easter, neither team scoring in the second half.
"We limited ourselves tonight," head coach Jeremy Reed said. "We only got 13 snaps in the first quarter, and in the second half we had a turnover when we had a nice drive going."
A roughing-the-kicker penalty to the Sheridan 44 sustained an early Lake Hamilton drive. Junior quarterback Fay Haywood got things started before Easter, a senior receiver, took the ball at the Yellowjacket 33, broke a tackle and went the distance. Junior Jackson Johnson kicked it to 7-0 with 14.4 seconds left in the first quarter.
Sheridan reached the Lake Hamilton 38 with help of two Wolf offside penalties and junior Justin Pruitt's 24-yard pass to classmate Jackson Coleman. Senior Mckinley Williams carried the last four yards, and junior Brayden Veuleman tied it at 7-7.
Veuleman then kicked off to Easter, whose 77-yard return and Johnson's PAT made it 14-7 with 3:41 before halftime -- and for all time.
Lake Hamilton drove to the Sheridan 12 in the second half before junior Jacob Nichols fumbled, Yellowjacket senior Lucas Sellers recovering. The Wolves then stopped the Yellowjackets on fourth and six at the Lake Hamilton 11.
Reed was happy with the victory, making Lake Hamilton 5-3 overall and 4-1 in 6A-West, despite his team's offensive struggle. Sheridan outgained Lake Hamilton 213-181, combining for 65 yards in penalties.
"I think that Sheridan played hard, but we were very sporadic," Reed admitted. "We had a couple of big plays by Ramar Easter -- on an offensive play and on the kickoff return. Overall, it was good to get a win be 4-1 in conference."
Jacob Porter led the Wolves with 72 yards on 11 carries. Haywood had 47 yards on 16 carries, and Easter had 25 on three carries.
Utah Aitken led the Wolf defense with eight tackles, Ray Hamp adding six and Easter, Kanaan Williams and Gage Montgomery five apiece.
Lake Hamilton goes to Benton (5-3, 3-2) and Greenwood (8-0, 5-0) in the last two weeks of the regular season.
Sports on 10/23/2016