RISON - “I know we would like to take a deep breath and relax, but we can't because we still have a lot of work to do,” was a point of emphasis made by Rison head coach Clay Totty this week, as the Wildcats prepare to take on the dangerous Lake Village Beavers this Friday night at George Walker Field of Champions. Kickoff time is scheduled for 7 o'clock for the 6-3A Conference battle. After winning a pair of crucial conference games over Camden Harmony Grove and Fordyce, the Wildcats now stand as the only team in the league without a loss. Last Friday's emotional 37-24 victory at Fordyce improved Rison to 3-0 in the conference and 6-0 overall.
Meanwhile, Lake Village is 2-1 in the conference and 2-3 overall. The one conference loss for the Beavers came after they forfeited (self-reported) their win over Drew Central for playing an ineligible player. Otherwise, the Beavers have polished off Barton, 27-14, and Dollarway, 48-0, in conference action. The Beavers pair of non-conference losses were at the hands of undefeated Haskell Harmony Grove and rival Dumas, a 17-13 setback, both Class 4A opponents.
“In my mind, they (Lake Village) are 3-0 on the field in the conference,” Totty said. “They are a dangerous team with a lot of good athletes. They have a college-type back (Aquavious Dunbar, 215 pounds) who is really good; we found that out last year. They like to mix it up on offense, and as the case with most of the teams we have faced this season, they have that big play potential. On defense, they are big up front and athletic. We are going to have to come out and play.”
In last year's game here, Dunbar had a 56-yard touchdown run against the ‘Cats, as the Beavers gained almost 200 yards on the ground in their loss to Rison.
While excited for his team after their big win over Fordyce, Totty did come away from that game with a big concern.
“I guess the bad trait of this team is we seem to lose intensi...
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