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El Dorado News-Times Thursday, August 23, 2018
Bitter Taste
Could tough defeat in last year's finale propel Wildcats?
Terrance Armstard/News-Times
Crossing the line?:El Dorado's Richard Kesee loses control of the football just before crossing the goalline against Searcy in last year's football playoffs.
By Tony Burns
Sports Editor
It’s not often that a 9-2 football sea- son can leave a bad taste in a coach’s mouth. But, months later, El Dorado coach Scott Reed is still bitter about the way the Wildcats finished the 2018 campaign.
After a first-round bye, El Dorado dropped a 38-21 decision to Searcy at Memorial Stadium.
“You know, that one still bothers me. We should’ve won that game,” Reed said. “I don’t know that I’ve ever been in a game where so many things went the wrong way. At the end of the game I thought, God, we were awful. We had over 600 yards total offense and only scored 17 points. I looked back and we turned the ball over three times in the
end zone. None of them were fourth down plays.
“We busted a run for 50 yards and got stripped going in. I don’t know ifhewasinornotbutIknowwhat they called. It was a great effort but it was a fluke deal. Richard (Kesee) had taken care of the ball good all year. The guy just ripped it out just right. It was a good play on that kid’s part. We threw an interception on first or sec- ond down inside the 10 or inside the 15. Those are things that are unchar- acteristic of us. We should’ve scored a lot more points.”
Not that Searcy was chopped liver. The Lions entered the game with a 9-2 record and finished the season 10-
See BITTER, Page 11
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