SEARCY -- El Dorado's Kawon Love rushed for 182 yards and three touchdowns Friday as the Wildcats beat Searcy 31-13 in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs.
The Wildcats (6-5) dominated early, building a 24-0 halftime lead. Searcy (6-5) outscored El Dorado 13-0 in the third quarter before a defensive hold and a late quarterback sneak for a touchdown by John Sixbey put the game away.
"I'm happy with the win," said El Dorado Coach Scott Reed, whose team play at Benton in the second round next week.. "Going on the road in the playoffs against a team you're not familiar with is good. We had a good week. Our kids bought in to what we were doing. We got good leadership and I think we played a little better. We were a little better tonight."
El Dorado managed to hem in Searcy running back Luke Dixon, holding the senior to 141 yards rushing on 35 carries.
"I thought our secondary played really well," Reed said. "We had a chance to get some more interceptions. We broke on the ball well. We were good defensively all night because that team has scored a lot of points. I thought we were sloppy offensively in the third quarter and then we kind of came alive again at the end.
"Our offensive line played well. We had a few penalties in the second half that we don't need. But the effort and physicalness was good."
El Dorado opened the game with a 72-yard drive powered by Love, who had five carries for 37 yards. Anthony Thomas had a 21-yard run before Love scored on an 11-yard run. Kaleb Dull kicked the extra point with 7:53 left in the first quarter.
Randall Coleman's interception and return set up the Wildcats' next score. Sixbey hit Mitchell Emrich for 12 yards before Love scored on a 7-yard run with 1:36 left in the first.
El Dorado's defense stopped the Lions on fourth and 3 at the 12. The Wildcats then drove 88 yards for a score. Thomas had a 33-yard run before Love ran for 27. Love scored on the next play from 6 yards out. Dull's kick extended the margin to 21-0 with 5:40 left in the first half.
The Wildcats' final score of the half was set up by Dull's 52-yard punt, which rolled dead at the Searcy 10. The Lions punted to the El Dorado 42. Love had a 12-yard run and Gemetre Miller-Calloway had a 17-yard reception before Dull kicked a 38-yard field goal with nine seconds left in the half.
The Lions fought back in the third, capping a nine-play drive with Trenton Turner's 29-yard touchdown reception from Andrew Neaville. Colton Hall's kick cut the lead to 24-7 with 9:44 left in the third quarter.
The Wildcats struggled on offense with one first down on their first two possessions of the second half. The Lions drew closer on Dixon's 4-yard run with 1:44 left in the third.
But El Dorado took over on downs at the Searcy 30. Love ran to the 1 before Sixbey scored with 7:00 left.
ALMA 28, TEXARKANA 23
TEXARKANA — Alma took advantage of five turnovers by Texarkana to move into the second round of the Class 6A state playoffs.
Alma’s Noah Dotson ran for a 25-yard touchdown and threw a 26-yard scoring pass to Jeremiah Nicholson in the first half, and Alex Beneux scored on two 1-yard runs in the second half.
Dotson finished with 97 yards on 17 carries, and Beneux had 63 yards on 11 carries.
Ledreliaun Taylor had a 74-yard kickoff return for Texarkana. Keaundre Banks added a 19-yard touchdown run, Kushaiah Jones had a 7-yard scoring run, and Tyler Braswell kicked a 25-yard field goal.
Sports on 11/14/2015