TEAMS: Lake Hamilton (2-2, 1-0) at Arkansas High (1-3, 0-1)
LAST YEAR: The Wolves won, 17-13.
LAST WEEK: Lake Hamilton topped El Dorado, 27-21, to open 6A-West play, and the Razorbacks fell to top-ranked Greenwood, 55-10.
GAME FACTS: The Wolves hold a 10-6 lead in the series. Lake Hamilton has won six in a row against AHS, which last beat the Wolves, 21-18, in 2009. In the win over El Dorado, LH scored twice on defense and had another fumble recovery to set up a score. Arkansas High held a 10-7 lead on Greenwood, which scored 35 points in the second quarter to seal the win, which ended on the mercy rule. Tonight starts a 2-game home stand for the Razorbacks, who play two on the road before finishing the regular season with a pair of home games. Jeremy Reed is the new head coach for Lake Hamilton, with Reed replacing 28-year veteran Jerry Clay. Reed was the former head coach at Altus, Okla. The Wolves are running a flexbone offense under Reed.
COACHES' COMMENTS: Lake Hamilton's Reed-"I don't know if you're ever where you want to be a football coach, but we've got several areas that we're trying to get better at every week. With a new program and a lot of kids who haven't got a lot of playing time, I like the progression we've made week to week. We're a young football team, and we've got two losses because of that."
"Arkansas High is extremely athletic, extremely fast and they have great size; they have every physical attribute that you look at as a coach. Offensively, we've got to execute our offense and not turn the ball over. Defensively, we've got to a do a great job of lining up correctly and making sure we're in the right spots because they're fast enough that they've got a chance to take it on every play, if we're not fitting properly."
Arkansas High's Todd Ledford-"We've been fairly decent in special teams, but we had a break down in punt coverage and our punting unity the other night. We gave up a punt returns for a touchdown and a punt blocked. That's unacceptable; we've got to get that fixed and pay attention to the details in that and every aspect of special teams.
"Lake Hamilton presents a little bit different problem because they're going to bring the option in here, and that forces us to play assignment football. We've got to be disciplined on defense and great tacklers. The best defense of that is making them play from behind.
"Offensively, we haven't scored points like we need to score, and on way to defend the option is playing ahead on the scoreboard because that gets them playing left-handed-it forces them to do things they don't want to do."
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TONIGHT'S LINEUPS
(Number in parentheses)
LAKE HAMILTON OFFENSE: QB-Fay Haywood (7), 180; FB-Jonathon Buss (39), 183; WB-Jack Johnson (23), 160; RB-Jacob Nichols (25), 158; WR-Keaton Hixon (3), 165; WR-Nathan Brown (26), 156; LT-Ian Bishop (60), 211; LG-Will Burgess (75), 330; C-Cole Speer (57), 225; RG-Ryan Perry (72), 267; RT-Jake New (71), 230; PK-Jack Johnson (23), 160.
LAKE HAMILTON DEFENSE: SLB-Utah Aitken (4), 193; WLB-Patrick Morrison (54), 184; OLB-Kannan Williams (21), 170; OLB-Ray Hamp (27), 177; End-Gage Montgomery (33), 215; NG-Hunter Hughes (56), 245; DT-Randall Nichols (17), 214; CB-Jacob Nichols (25), 158; CB-Jacob Graves (10), 161; FS-Ramar Easter (20), 186; S-Juan Jackson (8), 187; Punter-Aaron Green (41), 168.
ARKANSAS HIGH OFFENSE: WR-Irijah Price (1), 170; WR-Jadas Ross (3), 150; WR-Korleon Campbell (13), 170; WR-Tristen Koller (34), 160; LT-Rico Thomas (74), 255; LG-Bailey Bates (51), 230; C-Austin Nix (54), 260; RG-Chris Scott (56), 225; RT-Christian Johnson (73), 240; QB-Tyler Braswell (14), 165; FB-Wren Williams (15), 185; TB-Jordan Hall (25); PK-Tyler Braswell (14).
ARKANSAS HIGH DEFENSE: DE-Elijah Hayes (33), 230; DT-Michael Daniels (92); DT-Chase Cook (55), 245; DE-Trayvon Robinson (78), 265; LB-Travieon Cleveland (20), 190; LB-Kendricks Young (23), 200; LB-Demetrius Charles (39), 180; CB-Jordan Sanders (7), 175; CB-Cameron Grissom (10); S-DeJordan Mask (5), 170; S-Cameron Collier (21); PNT-Braswell (14).