Wolves caught in cloudburst, fall to El Dorado

The Sentinel-Record/Jami Smith CAUGHT: Lake Hamilton running back Malik Brewer (3) attempts to avoid a tackle by El Dorado's Wanya Archie (40) Friday at Wolf Stadium in Pearcy during the Wolves' 28-6 home loss in 6A-West conference play.
The Sentinel-Record/Jami Smith CAUGHT: Lake Hamilton running back Malik Brewer (3) attempts to avoid a tackle by El Dorado's Wanya Archie (40) Friday at Wolf Stadium in Pearcy during the Wolves' 28-6 home loss in 6A-West conference play.

PEARCY -- One yardstick influenced the El Dorado-Lake Hamilton game Friday night as much as the raincloud that delayed the start and saturated Bank of the Ozarks Field at Wolf Stadium:

Strength of schedule.

El Dorado (2-2, 1-0) benefited from two games against Class 7A teams and took advantage of a bye week before its 6A-West opener. Jolting Lake Hamilton (3-1, 0-1) on the opening kickoff, the Wildcats breezed to a 28-6 road victory.

"We got one conference victory and that's all that matters," coach Scott Reed told his players at midfield, hoping to build on his team's second straight win before defending Class 6A champion Greenwood (3-1, 1-0) visits Union County this week.

Lake Hamilton (3-1) got a reality check after crushing three teams with a combined 1-8 record (Lakeside, Malvern and Hot Springs) before Friday. The Wolves can learn from the defeat, coach Tommy Gilleran said, before this week's conference road game against Little Rock Hall (1-3, 0-1). The Bulldogs blasted the Warriors, 41-6, on Friday.

"We didn't live up to our billing," Gilleran said. "But at least we know now what to work on and can get it fixed before we get into the rest of the conference."

Winning its second straight in the series (35-13 last year), El Dorado led after 13 seconds, senior Shun Levingston returning the opening kickoff 80 yards for a quick score.

"It was a busted play," Reed said. "The ball went over the return man's head."

Whatever it was, Lake Hamilton never recovered, allowing two more big scoring plays that staked El Dorado to a 21-0 halftime lead. On fourth-and-eight, junior quarterback Alex Hicks passed 30 yards to Levingston, running a hitch screen, for the touchdown that made it 14-0 with 2:40 left in the first quarter. Senior Keontae Larry burst 65 yards up the middle for the third El Dorado touchdown as the rain intensified before subsiding near halftime.

Lake Hamilton's best early chance went for naught with a fumble after reaching the El Dorado 11-yard line on a 38-yard pass from sophomore Layne Warrick to senior Kadin Kemp.

"I thought if we could get it to 14-7 we could make it a ball game," Gilleran said. "The rain bothered us a little bit, but their defensive line is really good."

The Wildcats kept Lake Hamilton's Wing-T in check after confronting the high-powered running attacks of 7A-Central teams Conway (4-0, 1-0) and Cabot (2-2, 0-1). El Dorado improved some defensively in beating Class 5A Camden Fairview (2-2, 1-0 5A-South) two weeks ago and "grew up tonight," Reed said.

Key to that effort was slowing junior Malik Brewer, a difference maker offensively in the Wolves' 3-0 start. The Wildcats followed Brewer to the corners after the 172-pound junior popped some nice gains as Lake Hamilton reached the El Dorado 31 on its first drive.

"We wanted to know where No. 3 (Brewer) was," Reed said. "He's a great player."

Brewer's six-yard touchdown run with 3:07 left averted the shutout, the Wolves scoring one play after Warrick found junior Dealond Lewis with a crisp 30-yard pass on fourth and 15.

Brewer ran for 99 yards on 20 carries, while Lewis finished with 10 carries for 41 yards. Warrick was 5-for-11 passing for 90 yards with one interception. He also ran for 20 yards on eight carries. Kemp made four catches for 60 yards.

Senior linebacker Kanaan Williams led Lake Hamilton's defense with 10 tackles. Senior defensive end Ray Hamp made nine stops, while junior Braden Qualls made eight.

El Dorado, in a bid to run out the clock, wound up scoring instead when Levingston went 51 yards on a jet sweep with 1:53 to play.

Any sense of false security Lake Hamilton might have gained in outscoring its first three opponents 129-44 surely was curbed courtesy of El Dorado.

"It wasn't like we just barely beat those teams. We pretty much dominated them," Gilleran said. "But I knew that with 10 new people on offense ... it would be just a matter of time before we experienced some growing pains."

Sports on 09/23/2018

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