Wolves to face improved Bombers team

Lake Hamilton players huddle and refresh during a Sept. 11 game against Malvern at Wolf Stadium. The Wolves host Mountain Home on Friday to open their 6A-West conference season. - Photo by Grace Brown of The Sentinel-Record
Lake Hamilton players huddle and refresh during a Sept. 11 game against Malvern at Wolf Stadium. The Wolves host Mountain Home on Friday to open their 6A-West conference season. - Photo by Grace Brown of The Sentinel-Record

PEARCY -- Lake Hamilton faces its first significant test of the season as the Wolves play host to Mountain Home Friday night to open the 6A-West conference season.

The Wolves (3-0) are facing a much-improved Bombers team (2-1) on Friday, already doubling their wins from the past three seasons. Prior to their 41-7 rout of Nettleton on Sept. 11, the Bombers' last win had come on Oct. 20, 2017, with a 49-6 win over Little Rock Hall.

"I think this is the best team they've had in a long time, and I've heard that from some other coaches," said Lake Hamilton head coach Tommy Gilleran. "I called some of the coaches that have played them, and they said this is the best team that they've had in a long time. So the new coach has them believing."

Mountain Home has had a strong start under first-year coach Steve Ary, who was hired in January to take over for former head coach Bryan Mattox. Ary, a member of the Missouri Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame, compiled a record of 182-95 while coaching at Willow Springs, Mountain Grove and West Plains, all in Missouri, and he was an assistant at Harrison last season.

Gilleran said that in addition to the new coach, the Bombers have plenty of experience returning, even if the seniors have not won a game since they were freshmen. Leading that group of seniors is quarterback Bryce McKay.

"They're running Spread concepts," Gilleran explained of the team's new offense. "They run some power read, and they run some quarterback counter. They run the quarterback a bunch. He's their best player, so if we can slow him down we'll have a chance."

Last Friday, McKay rushed 26 times for 232 yards and three touchdowns and completed 14 of 27 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns. The senior followed his 468-yard performance by entering as a defensive back in the final seconds and picking off a Batesville pass to seal the victory.

"If we can't stop him running, it'll be a long night because him throwing is just the other part of it. ... The games that we have, they run the ball 71% of the time," Gilleran explained.

Defensively, the Bombers run a 4-2-5, the same scheme the Wolves run.

"Their kids are playing real hard," Gilleran said.

Gilleran said that the coaching staff has seen some weaknesses in the Bombers' secondary, which could be beneficial to the Wolves in multiple ways.

"The secondary is not the strongest part, which we don't know what a bunch," he said. "If we get to the second level, those guys are going to have to tackle our big kids. That makes a big difference when they have to tackle somebody almost 200 pounds. Owen (Miller) is right near it, and so is Tevin (Woodley), and then Kendrick (Martin) is probably 185-190, so they have to tackle a big kid."

The team may also look to put the ball in the air more this week than it has been.

"I think we will," Gilleran said. "The big thing is I was trying to let Grant (Bearden) get more comfortable each game before you go out there just start throwing it all the time. So now that he's been in a couple games, he'll be more comfortable with what we're running, what we're doing."

The Wolves lost another starter this week due to "contact tracing," but Gilleran believes that with the players that he has coming back, they should be fine.

"We got Brad (Rieman) back," he said. "He's been good for another week. (Luke) Dodd was kind of beat up, but he's back again. I know Chase (Jessup) is going to go ahead and play Friday. He sprained his ankle; he's back. He hasn't practiced this week, but we've been letting them. Mentally he's fine. We've just got to let him get physically right."

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Friday.

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