Article on El Dorado 7 on 7.

[Proud Buckaroo]

By Tony Burns

tburns@eldoradonews.com



El Dorado went undefeated Friday in the Wildcat 7-on-7 Tournament, including a 36-16 win over Monticello in the championship game at Memorial Stadium. Coach Scott Reed was in a celebratory mood after the final, joining his team for a group championship photo.

"I'm ecstatic," he said. "We had a tournament and we won it. That's a good deal."

The Wildcats, and all of the other teams, too, for that matter, managed to beat the heat on a suffocatingly hot afternoon on artificial turf. Everyone appeared to make it through the day unscathed, especially El Dorado, which advanced to the championship game with a 35-25 double overtime win over Camden Fairview and a 25-10 victory over Smackover.

"I thought we played really well at the end," said Reed. "It's 7-on-7, though. We were in trouble. Camden had us beat in our first round of the playoff. But, if you keep playing hard, kind of like New England made the last play in the Super Bowl. In the finals, we were down 9-0, we ended up winning 36-16. So, I think we learned a little bit today.

"I thought we threw and caught the ball better as the day went on, which was good. I think we've gotten better. We've been in two 7-on-7s, one at Hope and one here with the varsity and they've won both this summer. I'm really excited about our big kids, too, so, I'm really excited about 2015."

The Wildcats started slowly against the Billies, who beat Magnolia (36-9) and defending champion Junction City (42-23) on their way to the finals. Monticello led 9-0 after a defensive stop and a touchdown pass. El Dorado tied the game 16-16 before John Sixbey connected with slot receiver Gemetre Miller for a 35-yard touchdown down the seam. The Billies pushed the ball inside El Dorado's 10 on their ensuing drive but linebacker Ja'Kal Wade intercepted a pass in the end zone.

El Dorado pulled away from that point. Kawon Love made a diving touchdown catch in the end zone before Rhett Conner ended the game with an interception.

Sixbey ran the varsity unit at quarterback with Love lining up at receiver and Anthony Thomas at running back.

"I thought John was good today. He threw the ball really well," said Reed. "It looks like we've got some guys who are going to move around and play in different spots. I think Anthony Thomas is coming along at tailback. He's got a little burst. We've moved Gemetre around. We'll move Kawon around some. Those guys have pretty good ball skills. I thought Gemetre made a great catch on that shot down the middle. That kind of broke the game open. That was a vertical threat that we've been missing. Kawon made some strong catches. Kaleb made a good strong catch for a touchdown, which was good to see. Tyler Smith made some good catches. I thought Kylieer (Norman) did some good things. And then, we played Mitchell and Burroff some, too. They did a good job.

"The last couple of games, the good thing was, we didn't drop any balls. The Camden game and even Smackover, we got behind because we dropped balls."

El Dorado looked like toast in the first round of the playoff as it trailed Fairview 18-9. The Wildcats scored to cut the deficit to two with 3:50 remaining and then tied the game with a defensive stop with 18 seconds left to play.

Both teams scored in the first overtime. After Sixbey found Love for a score in the second OT, Conner intercepted the Cardinals to end the game.

"Defensively, the only thing we're doing defensively that's kind of scary is, it seems like jump balls, we kind of time 'em and get there a little late for some reason," said Reed. "Rhett made two big picks today. Ja'Kal Wade made a big pick. I thought we had a sophomore corner who stepped up today in Cameron Bowie. He had a good day. Safety-wise with Rhett and we're rotating Tanner (McVey) some there and Alvintino Pete. I thought I saw some good things. Linebacker-wise, we've gotten better in coverage. That's important."

Smackover advanced to the semifinals with an 18-9 win over Crossett. Junction City downed Magnolia JV 25-16.

"I thought it was a good day," said Reed. "I'm really pleased with our booster club and how well we did, fed a bunch of kids and had a lot of good work. A lot of people donated a lot of time and effort."