It took a full 48 minutes to decide Friday night's game between Hot Springs and Lakeside at Chick Austin Field, but in the end, the Rams held on to take a 35-32 victory over the Trojans for some momentum into the postseason.
The game was full of lead changes with the Trojans (1-9, 1-6 5A-South) taking a 26-21 lead into the break. The game went into the final minutes with Lakeside (5-5, 4-3) holding a 35-26 lead, but a Hot Springs touchdown with 2:44 left on the clock left the two teams battling until the final whistle.
"We knew that it would be," said Lakeside head coach Jared McBride. "They're a good football team, and they're putting their pieces together. I'm proud of my kids for coming out and playing hard and just being resilient and fighting to the end."
Despite the outcome, the Trojans managed to outgain the Rams, picking up 363 yards to Lakeside's 233. Part of the discrepancy was due to a pair of defensive touchdowns scored by the Rams.
"Our defense played really well and caused some turnovers and we caused some turnovers on the special teams game," McBride said. "Overall, it was a hard-fought rivalry win. ... They play so hard. Sometimes we're outmatched a little bit, but they fought the fight, and they created some plays and really, really, really set us up for success."
The Trojans also put up a good fight, dominating the first half while finding the end zone four times.
"Our guys played hard," said Hot Springs head coach Darrell Burnett. "They showed a lot of character about themselves, a lot of 'want-to' discipline to get smacked around like we did last week. For those guys to come out and play this week hard, it shows that if you believe in yourself, and you practice hard, and you're determined to be great, you can do good things.
"We came up short, but we kept to ourselves on some plays -- some blocked punts, stripped touchdowns. You take away a few plays, ... and now you force a team to pass the ball instead of do what they do good, and that's run the ball. It's something to build on. It's something to grow. We've just got to get a lot better in the offseason."
A big part of the Trojans' success came from junior quarterback Santiair Thomas, who stepped into the role after starting the season as a receiver. Thomas was 19-for-30 passing for 237 yards and two touchdowns while rushing 14 times for 64 and two more scores.
"He's a phenomenal athlete," Burnett said. "The thing about it is he hasn't even scratched the surface yet. A lot of the stuff that he's doing is just raw, God-given talent. He don't really understand the game of football yet, but he's trying every day to soak up as much information fundamentally -- scheme-wise, X's and O's, 'What's this coach?', this and that.
"Don't be shocked next year if he has all kinds of SEC schools and big-time Power Five schools here watching him every Saturday. He's going to be big-time."
Senior receiver Eddie Miles was another big part of the game, reeling in 11 catches for 108 yards.
"Eddie is one of those seniors that came back out for us, and he's been going through the grind with us," Burnett said. "He's a basketball guy, so he could have quit or just focused on his primary sport. But he's still out there practicing hard. All you can do is shake those guys' hands and be proud of them."
The Trojans worked to shut down Lakeside's two top offensive threats in quarterback Taylor Gillham and running back Isaac Echols, but the two still combined for just under 200 yards and a score.
"We've got to be a little better completing the ball," McBride said of Gillham's 8 of 25 passing for 107 yards. "I thought that we took advantage of some circumstances. It was just a tough game.
"It's tough to get yards. He ran some tough yards in there. (Will) Perrigo got some tough ones for us there in the red zone. Isaac got some. We got 200 with those three."
Echols finished with 19 touches for 120 yards and a fumble recovery. Perrigo had eight rushes for 15 yards and two scores.
With the Trojans' season ending at the final whistle, Burnett noted that while the season was not as successful as he wanted, there were plenty of bright spots.
"It was new to them, and it was new to us," he said. "Having lost since 2003, really, it was a big transition. The biggest thing is we came in, we rushed through some things, which with a delayed hire that's what you kind of do. Me and coach (Courtney) Sanders were talking the other day -- we may have lost some games, but we've won a lot of kids.
"What I mean by that is we have won kids over; we've won their trust, their belief because some of these guys had bad grades, this and that, and they're willing to change the little things. We've got some seniors that couldn't really take coaching at first, and now they're saying, 'Yes, sir, no, sir.' The thing about it is, we're winning off the field right now."
Lakeside will travel to Blytheville (5-5, 5-2) Friday night for the first round of the Class 5A state football playoffs.
1Q 2Q 3Q 4Q F
Hot Springs 12 14 0 6 32
Lakeside 14 7 7 7 35
First quarter
LS--William Perrigo 1 run (Josh Hixson kick), 7:50
HS--Santiair Thomas 7 run (kick failed), 6:05
LS--Dorecus Ferguson fumble recovery in end zone (Hixson kick), 4:05
HS--Damien Walker 21 pass from Thomas (conversion failed), 1:23
Second quarter
HS--Walker 14 run (Walker conversion), 9:38
LS--Ryan Pelt block punt return (Hixson kick), 5:22
HS--Thomas 7 run (conversion failed), 2:22
Third quarter
LS--Keelan Fleming 21 pass from Taylor Gillham (Hixson kick), 9:28
Fourth quarter
LS--Perrigo 2 run (Hixson kick), 6:34
HS--Walker 20 pass from Thomas (conversion failed), 2:44
HS LS
First downs 21 15
Rushes-yards 30-110 38-126
Passing yards 223 107
Comp-att. 19-30 8-25
Punts-avg. 6-16.2 2-47
Fumbles-lost 2-2 5-2
Penalties-yards 8-58 17-104
Individual statistics
Rushing -- Hot Springs, Santiair Thomas 14-64, Damien Walker 16-46. Lakeside, Isaac Echols 19-120, Dorecus Ferguson 5-33, William Perrigo 8-15, Ethan Cevela 1-1, Taylor Gillham 5-(minus 43).
Passing -- Hot Springs, Thomas 19-30-0-237. Lakeside, Gillham 8-25-1-107.
Receiving -- Hot Springs, Eddie Miles 11-108, Walker 5-60, Trent Gordon 1-52, Jordan Baker 2-19. Lakeside, Sawyer Lamb 5-81, Keelan Fleming 1-21, Richard Gaston 1-5.
Sports on 11/04/2018