El Dorado evened its overall record at 3-3 and earned its first 6A East victory with Friday’s 52-13 win at winless Sylvan Hills.
Although the Wildcats led 31-6 at the half, Coach Chris Hill was much happier with their performance after the intermission.
“We were just cleaner. We had penalties in the first half, motion penalties, false starts, lining up in the backfield, just things where you shoot yourself in the foot,” Hill said. “We get down inside the red zone, we get hit and fumble the ball. It was just one after the other. And then the second half, we looked a whole lot more crisp, a lot more focused than we did in the first half.”
El Dorado totaled 502 yards of offense, including 237 on the ground. Jeremy Samuel rushed for 128 yards and three touchdowns. Cannon Jacobs completed 10-of-17 for 246 yards and two touchdowns.
“I thought we’d be able to run inside-zone more than we did but our counter was really good,” said Hill. “(Samuels) hit it up there good. Jeremiah Warner, our sophomore, got some reps and he did a good job.”
Defensively, the Wildcats held Sylvan Hills to 240 total yards and just 63 yards rushing.
Junior linebacker Spencer Poole recorded five tackles, including two tackles for loss with a sack and a forced fumble.
“I thought our defense played really well,” said Hill. “We were able to get pressure on the quarterback. We probably had five or six sacks. Really pleased with the way our defense is playing.”
Senior kicker Cooper Henry booted a 47-yard field goal and was 7-for-7 on extra points.
“He’s been really good. He mishit a couple of them but he was like, ‘Coach, thanks for not giving up on me.’ He’s too much of a weapon,” said Hill. “He did a great job on that and he really did a great job on his kickoffs, putting the ball in vacant spots. I thought he did an outstanding job on his kickoffs.”
The Wildcats travel to Benton on Friday. The Panthers beat Sheridan 72-25 on Friday to improve to 5-1, 3-0.