MENA -- Hot Springs first-year head coach Darrell Burnett knows defense is key for a football team, and while the Trojans were unable to come out with a win over Mena, their defense stood tall for the second week in a row.
"I'm a defensive-minded guy," he said. "If you play a good defense, change the field position on special teams and not kill yourself or stab yourself in the foot on offense, you'll always give yourself a chance. That's what we're going to always hang our hats on -- defense, run to the ball and try to be aggressive. We put a lot of emphasis on it this week just like we did the first week, get turnovers and score."
The Bearcats (2-1) took a 19-0 lead in the first half, but the Trojans (0-2) did not let them score again in the second half.
"The kids played hard," Burnett said. "They played really hard. We were down 19-0 at the half, and we came back the second half and forced four turnovers, three, and don't give up a point. We had some good drives offensively, but we've just got to be smart and capitalize and not hurt ourselves.... We're getting better every week."
Hot Springs forced seven turnovers in the game, but Burnett sees room for improvement there.
"Any time you force that many turnovers, you're supposed to win by a large amount," he said. "That was a frustrating thing. We forced all those turnovers, and we got the ball in the red zone quite a few times but couldn't capitalize.
"Even if we had those seven turnovers on defense, you're supposed to score on two or three of them. So, we didn't score on defense. We got a touchdown called back, and then we got in the red zone and didn't finish.
While the Trojans put up over 270 yards in the game, things did not go well for the Trojans offensively from the start.
"The first two or first three plays, we got penalties on the offensive side," Burnett said. "We've got stuff we've got to tighten up to give ourselves a better chance. You can say, 'Should've, could've, would've,' but it don't matter until it shows on your record that you can win a game."
While the defense has been standing tall, Burnett said he is surprised the mostly younger group is progressing faster than the senior-laden offense.
"The thing about it is, the defense is younger," he said. "Other than Mello (Ramello Cason), Jordan Baker played a little bit at linebacker, Da'Shan Doss, Eddie Miles, who is a first-year guy, that's really the only seniors on defense. We've actually got more seniors on offense, which is backwards. You'd think we'd be progressing more on offense. They're playing good ball."
Regardless of the outcome, Burnett is seeing the team making strides and progressing.
"I think Fountain Lake averaged four yards a play," he said. "Mena averaged 3.89 yards a play. That's great numbers, no matter if you lose. There's a lot of positives.
"I told the kids last night, everyone always told them they were quitters, and we always hung our hats with something negative happening. They have been the complete opposite the first two weeks. We've just got to figure out how to score more points and win some ball games. I think if we scored 21 points, however we scored -- defense, offense, special teams -- these two games, we'd be 2-0 instead of 0-2. We're not that far off. We've just got to keep pegging at it. The kids have got to continue to believe in it."
The Trojans play host to Lake Hamilton (2-0) Friday night.
Sports on 09/09/2018