El Dorado can look forward to future success on the gridiron after a season which saw eight juniors earn All-Conference or Honorable Mention All-Conference honors.
Juniors Jakori Lumsey, Bretaveon Brown, Cannon Jacobs Paxton Strong, Blake Deal, Christaveon Meadows and Jervalen Junior joined senior Tahmadai White on the All-Conference list while senior Isaac Stell and junior Spencer Poole were named Honorable Mention.
“You look at the guys we had, they had good years. It’s good for them to get recognized. They’re all team players,” said El Dorado coach Chris Hill. “You could ask any of them, would you rather win state or be All-State? They’d all tell you, we’d rather win a championship. They’re team players. They’re unselfish players.
“You think of Cannon Jacobs. He made a move for the best of the team. (Brown) made a move to primarily on defense because it was what was best for the team. We moved Blake Deal from guard to center because it was what’s best for the team. When you’ve got a group of young men like that who come to practice every day, we probably had close to 70 percent during school of people coming to practice. We had very few people miss practice. When you’ve got guys who put the team first and guys who are here and work every day, it makes our coaches’ job fun to go to practice every day and go to work every day.”
Defensively, White recorded 40 tackles, including seven tackles for loss and three sacks at defensive tackle. Lumsey, at middle linebacker, had 70 tackles with 12 tackles for loss, two sacks and an interception in nine games Brown had 82 tackles with 10 tackles for loss and two forced fumbles playing outside linebacker. Junior, playing defensive end, had 47 tackles with 15 tackles for loss, including 2.5 sacks.
Offensively, Jacobs completed 113-of-215 passes for 1,525 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also rushed for 504 yards and 12 touchdowns. At receiver, Strong had 26 receptions for 305 yards and two touchdowns. Deal started at center and Meadows at left guard on the offensive line.