ARKADELPHIA -- Lake Hamilton's players felt they had something to prove Monday night in their annual benefit game against Arkadelphia at Badger Stadium.
A year after arguments that the Wolves lost the scrimmage to the Badgers, coaching staffs from both schools agreed that there would be no scores kept. The Wolves also were looking to exact some revenge on the Badgers for the injury to starting quarterback Layne Warrick that kept him off the gridiron for the majority of his senior season.
When all was said and done, both teams ended up with 10 touchdowns -- Lake Hamilton scoring two in the final five minutes to leave the tally knotted.
Lake Hamilton head coach Tommy Gilleran said that mistakes can be fixed, but he was disappointed that his team did not have the energy in the contest that he expected to see from them.
"We've just got to watch film and fix it. ... Whatever we're doing wrong, we can fix it on film, and you know that's the good thing about practice," he said. "You know, we don't get to see this type of blocking and stuff and that type of running, so you know as a defense, they've got to get better because you know the kid from Lakeside is as good as this kid. And so we've got to, we've got to make sure we play better. And we didn't play with much energy tonight. I don't know what it is -- like if they treated it like a practice, but we've got to have more energy."
The first "half" of the contest saw both varsity teams running 12 offensive plays before the JV squads ran 10. The varsity then ran an additional eight before the second half was treated like a normal varsity half with two 12-minute periods.
Arkadelphia scored on their seventh play while the Wolves did not score their first touchdown until their 10th play. Lake Hamilton's JV squad held Arkadelphia at bay before sophomore Easton Hurley found junior Luke Atkinson for a touchdown on their final play.
"Offensively, I feel like we got better, and you know, I put Easton in just to -- we've got to have a backup, you know," Gilleran said. "We don't want to go into -- you know, last year we went in with Layne, threw all our chips there and then he gets hurt, and Grant's kind of like, 'Alright, here we go.' And so I want to make sure I give reps to my backup guy, especially in a meaningful part. So if Grant ever gets hurt, I've got somebody to put in there; I don't go, 'I'd better not throw it.' And so I felt like he did a good job tonight. Ran us down and scored and did a good job, threw a good third down and 15 yard pass, and I was proud of that."
Arkadelphia took a single-touchdown lead after scoring twice in the varsity team's second set of plays while keeping the Wolves from scoring. The Badgers picked off a pass on Lake Hamilton's final play of the half to hold the advantage going into the break.
"I thought we came out like we always do at home," said Arkadelphia head coach Trey Schucker. "You know, we started fast. You know, we've made the plays that we needed to make to feel good about it. You know, there's a lot of things that we can do to get better. But no, overall, we thought we had a really good performance tonight. That's a really good football team. Lake Hamilton's got a lot of really good players over there. They're pretty much same team from last year in a runner-up season, and they're gonna win a lot of football games this year."
When the action got going in the second half, the Wolves started off strong with junior Kendrick Martin running the ball in from the 8-yard line to cap a seven-play, 65-yard drive with 2:56 off the clock. The Badgers responded in kind with senior Jaishon Davis carrying the ball 65 yards for a touchdown just 18 seconds later.
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"He had a really good night tonight," Schucker said. "I don't know what his numbers were, but I'm very pleased with his performance. You know, he did put the ball down on the ground once, but you know, overall, he did a great job. Pass pro -- he steps up and does a great job helping out, but out of the backfield, he does really good. You know, he does a lot of different things for us. He's so dynamic. You know, he's a big player, but he's so dynamic. He can hurt you with his legs and in the air, you know, he catches the ball really well."
After a scoreless drive by both teams, the Wolves found paydirt on a 25-yard reverse that put Martin in the end zone with 57 seconds left in the period. Arkadelphia used a 12-play drive to take the edge back after junior quarterback Donovan Whitten found classmate Latonnieo Hughes on a 12-yard pass with 1:22 off the clock in the final period.
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Lake Hamilton at Arkadelphia scrimmage, Aug. 16, 2021
Lake Hamilton visited Arkadelphia Monday, Aug. 16, 2021, for their annual benefit game.
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A Lake Hamilton fumble left the Badgers with just 37 yards to go -- an easy pass from Whitten to senior Alex Loy for the full measure -- to go up by two scores with 8:04 left in the game. The Wolves whittled away at the yardage and clock, taking advantage of too many Badgers on the field to score with 5:38 left and pull within a touchdown.
Arkadelphia scored on a single play in their next possession with senior Braylon Bailey breaking free on a 65-yard touchdown run.
Finally finding their footing, the Wolves were able to break free on a pair of big plays -- a 30-yard run by Martin followed by a 34-yard run by senior Tevin Hughes, whose dive for the pylon was inches shy of paydirt. Senior quarterback Grant Bearden punched his way in on the next play to put the Wolves back within a score with 4:51 left in the game.
Lake Hamilton held Arkadelphia to just nine yards on its next drive before Hughes found the back of the end zone on a 19-yard run with 1:35 left to knot the tally. The Badgers were unable to pick up a first down, punting the ball away with four seconds remaining.
"The thing about our offense, we wear folks down," Gilleran said. "And so as we wear them down, defenses get tired and it opens bigger holes, and they don't want to get off blocks and do stuff. So I think that's the advantage we have against a lot of people. That's why we don't try to two-way people because we want to make sure that we're fresh in the fourth quarter."
Martin led the Wolves with 12 carries for 180 yards as well as two receptions for 13 yards. Hughes had 18 touches for 145 yards while senior Owen Miller had 60 yards on nine carries and one catch for 10. Senior Colin Ashcraft led the Wolves receiving corps with two catches for 25 yards.
Bearden was 4 for 10 for 32 yards with two interceptions while Hurley was 3 for 7 for 33 yards and a pick.
Davis led Badgers on the ground with 123 yards on 10 touches while Bailey had one carry for 65. Loy led Arkadelphia's receivers with six catches for 137 yards, Bailey adding two catches for 85 and Hughes seven for 60.
Whitten was 15 for 22 with 288 yards passing with sophomore JV quarterback Cade McBride connecting 5 of 9 times for 35.
The Wolves open their season against Lakeside on Aug. 27 at Wolf Stadium. The Badgers host Camden Fairview on Aug. 27 for their season opener.