It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish that counts. That old saying from Zig Ziglar proved true Thursday night at the SAC as the El Dorado Aztecs erased a 17-point second half deficit to beat the Eastwood Troopers 49-45 in a wild shootout.
El Dorado got off to a blazing start, as quarterback Cedarious Barfield found Tyquez Hampton for a 61-yard touchdown on the second play of the game. After a successful two-point conversion, the Aztecs were up 8-0 less than 40 seconds into the game. The Aztecs did lose their cool at times as they were called for four personal foul penalties in the first half.
“We made some stupid penalties that cost us and it’s uncharacteristic of us and what we teach,” said El Dorado head coach Ruben Torres. “That’s got to be cleaned up and I’m pretty embarrassed about that.”
As for Eastwood quarterback Evan Aguilar, he stepped in and delivered an outstanding first varsity start for the injured Seth Ochoa. Aguilar marched the Troopers down the field five times in the first half and Eastwood scored touchdowns on all five drives.
The second quarter looked to be a turning point for the Troopers. After stopping El Dorado on their fourth possession, Aguilar led a six-minute scoring drive that was capped off by his fourth rushing touchdown of the half. After Barfield was sacked by Trooper defensive end Chase Warden on third down, the Troopers got one last chance before halftime. They converted, as Aguilar threw a 17-yard touchdown strike to Evan Graham on the last play of the half to give Eastwood a 33-22 lead at the break. The Troopers’ ground game was rolling, as they finished with 243 yards at the break. Eastwood had the momentum; but the Aztecs weren’t about to go down without a fight.
“In the locker room, we all came together as a team and decided we weren’t going to go down easy and we were going to try and come back in the second half and win,” said El Dorado wide receiver Cameron Hill.
After giving up an early third quarter touchdown to go down 17, the Aztecs struck quickly thanks to a beautiful 36-yard touchdown pass from Barfield to Cameron Hill to make it 39-30 with 8:18 to go in the third quarter. Late in the third quarter, Barfield would find Hill again in the end zone, making it 39-36 entering the fourth quarter. Hill would finish the game with four catches for 79 yards and three scores, all coming in the second half.
In the fourth quarter, Eastwood started to throw the ball more and spread it out, trying to deliver a knockout punch. Instead, the Aztec defense stepped up, stopping the Troopers and giving their offense a chance to win the game. That’s when Barfield threw his fifth touchdown pass of the night, a 20-yard floater to Jorge Hernandez to give the Aztecs a 49-45 lead with 5:12 to go. Barfield put up a tremendous game himself, throwing for five touchdowns, running for 2 more and finishing with 429 yards of total offense.
The Aztec defense was able to make one final stop on the Troopers inside the Aztec 20 on fourth down. Aguilar finished with 246 yards rushing on 44 carries and four touchdowns. He also finished 19 for 31 for 199 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough. It was a tough way to lose for Eastwood, but a resilient win for El Dorado.
“We’ve been preaching to them since I got here about finishing,” Torres said. “I feel like we had an opportunity tonight where we had to battle back and I think tonight they showed they are finishing and I’m very proud of that.”
El Dorado is now 3-1 on the season and 1-0 in District 1-6A. They will take on the Montwood Rams next Friday. Eastwood falls to 2-2 and 0-1 in District 1-6A. They go home to host Franklin next Friday night.
