Hot Springs may have outgained Lake Hamilton 450-387 Thursday night, but the Trojans were unable to get out of a 17-point hole they dug in the first 12:06 of the game as the Wolves took a 38-28 win at Tommy J. Holt Memorial Field at Joe C. Reese Stadium.
The Trojans (1-2) allowed two touchdowns in the first quarter before Wolves kicker Alex Hurtz kicked a 42-yard field goal just 6 seconds into the second for a 17-0 Lake Hamilton lead.
"You can't let a good team get up 13-0, 17-0," said Hot Springs head coach Darrell Burnett. "We got in a hole against Mena, and we fought back like crazy, and we won. And everybody was excited, which is rightfully so anytime you win, but we should have won that game by three touchdowns, to be honest with you. This game right here, if you don't spot them 17, you win it."
After shutting down the Trojan offense in the opening drive, Lake Hamilton pulled out a new play that let junior quarterback Grant Bearden target junior running back Owen Miller on a mid-range dump that Miller turned into a 69-yard touchdown.
"When I told them in practice, we were going to run it, and they all kind of laughed because we don't throw it a whole bunch," said Lake Hamilton head coach Tommy Gilleran. "I said, 'I think it'll be open.' I said, 'We ain't ran in a game yet, and there's a good chance they won't cover it. They'll cover the tight end, but they won't cover Owen down the middle of the field,' and he was open. In fact, we ran it again later, where we fumbled. He was open again; it would have been another touchdown. So we've just got to work on those type of things and get better."
Regardless of the outcome, Burnett was impressed by his team's desire to keep playing to the final whistle.
"Our guys never quit," he said. "We just got ourselves in too big of a hole against a well-coached team. That stuff we've got to fix, and we will. Our kids have great energy. Like I told them, when I coached in Camden Fairview, our whole objective when we played Hot Springs was to get up 14-0, 10-0 in the first quarter, and they were going to quit.
"Our kids represent Hot Springs community, school district and everything else the right way showing they can fight through adversity. They're tough. They've beaten the label, changing the M.O. of the school district and everything else, so we're going to build off of this positive, man. If we can play like we played the last two quarters or three quarters, like I told them, I think it'd be hard for us to lose."
The one-two punch of Miller and Tevin Woodley, who scored two touchdowns Thursday night, were problematic for the Trojans.
"Them boys are good," Burnett said. "I like watching them. There's a few guys that I know that stick out when I watch Lake Hamilton, and that's (Miller); it's (Woodley), and, of course, if (senior quarterback Layne Warrick) was playing but then (sophomore safety Justin Crutchmer) on defense. Those guys, they're some hard-nosed kids."
Gilleran was impressed by his quarterback's performance as well.
"Grant, he got a good run, too," he said. "I thought he was about to get tackled, and he ran all the way, almost for a first down. That's a big deal. I thought overall that was good, and then I made a bad call on that fourth and forever. I should have ran something else after they called timeout. I should have came back with something else, but live and learn. Hopefully we can build off this game being 3-0 again running into conference."
Burnett was also pleased with the play of senior linebacker Adrian Conway, who is in a new position after the Trojans' Week 1 loss to Arkadelphia. Conway finished with nine tackles on the night along with senior Devin Johnson.
"We moved him to middle linebacker after the Arkadelphia game," he said. "With Devin Johnson playing more running back, we moved him to the linebacker, so we can have a fresh body, a guy that's going to be tough, physical. He's been averaging like 15 tackles, three tackles for loss. If there's any school in Arkansas looking for a long, lanky linebacker that's 6-3, 210 -- he's an SEC type of guy at linebacker. I know some guys that are DI that would recruit him at d-end, but he's a heck of a player. I'm glad we got him."
Lake Hamilton opens conference play Friday night at Wolf Stadium against Mountain Home (1-1). Hot Springs has a bye week and will open its conference play on Oct. 2 at Hope.
;1Q;2Q;3Q;4Q--F
Lake Hamilton;14;17;0;7--38
Hot Springs;0;14;7;7--28
First quarter
LH -- Owen Miller 69 pass from Grant Bearden (Alex Hurtz kick), 6:33
LH -- Kendrick Martin 40 run (Hurtz kick), 4:10
Second quarter
LH -- Hurtz 42 field goal, 11:54
HS -- Deshawn Roberts 26 pass from Isaac Shelor (Kaimani Gray pass from Deshawn Roberts), 8:10
LH -- Tevin Woodley 19 run (Hurtz kick), 5:46
HS -- Devin Johnson 3 run (kick failed), 4:14
LH -- Miller 17 run (Hurtz kick), 0:59
Third quarter
HS -- Gray 11 pass from Shelor (Juan Martinez kick), 4:38
Fourth quarter
LH -- Woodley 66 run (Hurtz kick), 8:42
HS -- Gray 34 pass from Shelor (Martinez kick), 7:00
;LH;HS
First downs;16;21
Total yards;387;450
Rushes-yards;314;126
Passing;73;324
Comp-Att-Int;2-4-0;25-43-1
Punts-yards;2-63;4-82
Fumbles-lost;2-1;0-0
Penalties-yards;9-60;12-105
Time of possession;23:20;23:40
Individual statistics
Rushing -- Lake Hamilton, Tevin Woodley 12-135, Owen Miller 19-119, Kendrick Martin 7-65, Grant Bearden 6-28. Hot Springs, Devin Johnson 21-131, Steve Robinson 5-12, Isaac Shelor 4-3, Pierce Smalley 1-0, Blake McClelland 1-0.
Passing -- Lake Hamilton, Bearden 2-4-0-73. Hot Springs, Shelor 25-42-1-324, Kaimani Gray 0-1-0-0.
Receiving -- Lake Hamilton, Miller 1-69, Destin Rhodes 1-4. Hot Springs, Gray 8-125, Deshawn Roberts 2-78, McClelland 6-56, Smalley 5-51, Johnson 3-13, Robinson 1-1.
