Texarkana clinches playoff berth with win at Siloam Springs

SILOAM SPRINGS — Siloam Springs’ defense kept Friday’s 6A-West Conference game against Texarkana close for one half, but the Panthers couldn’t slow down Razorbacks junior Irjah Price.

Price caught two long touchdown passes in the first half to help Texarkana build up a 16-0 lead, and he returned the opening kickoff of the second half 86 yards for another score as the Razorbacks rolled to a 37-0 victory at Panther Stadium.

The victory clinched a playoff spot for Texarkana (54, 3-3), while the loss ended any playoff hopes for Siloam Springs (2-7, 1-5) for the third straight season.

“If it could go wrong, it went wrong,” said Siloam Springs coach Bryan Ross. “I thought our kids played hard. I thought our defense played really well early. We had a couple of opportunities to make a play on offense and just couldn’t. It just snowballed on us.”

Dejordan Mask intercepted three passes and caught a long touchdown pass in the second half for the Razorbacks, who endured a long trip up from southwest Arkansas and frigid conditions.

“Obviously I thought defensively we were able to get after them pretty good, and we got some turnovers and made some explosive plays offensively,” said first-year Texarkana coach Barry Norton, who spent the previous 18 years coaching across the state line at Texas High. “Irjah Price the wideout, he made a bunch of plays for us and got us going.”

Texarkana recoverd a Siloam Springs fumble on the opening kickoff and cashed in for a 36-yard field goal by Patrick Cook to take a 3-0 lead.

The score remained 3-0 until the second quarter when Price hauled in a 61-yard pass from Sean Foreback to put the Razorbacks up 9-0.

Siloam Springs had a chance to cut into Texarkana’s lead in the second quarter when the Panthers’ defense, after nearly recording a safety, got good field position at the Razorbacks’ 30. But the Panthers’ tried a trick play with a throwback to sophomore quarterback Taylor Pool, who was unable to field a lateral cleanly and the Razorbacks recovered.

Foreback scrambled for 17 yards and two plays later found Price for a 38-yard score and 16-0 lead with 25 seconds left before halftime.

Price fielded the opening kickoff of the second half and outran the Panthers’ special teams to make it 23-0. Jordan Hall ran in for a 1-yard score on a play set up by a 19-yard reverse run by Mask later in the third quarter. Mask also caught a 37-yard pass with 3:32 left as Texarkana hit the mercy rule.

Price finished with 141 yards receiving on five catches. Foreback was 10 of 22 for 224 yards. The Razorbacks had 327 yards of total offense.

Siloam Springs was playing without starting quarterback Landon Ellis, who is lost for the season with a partially torn ACL to his left knee, which he also injured as a freshman. Ellis practiced all week but the results of an MRI came back Friday at noon revealing the extent of his injury.

Pool played quarterback for the Panthers and only completed 4 of 17 passes for 21 yards and four interceptions. The Panthers, who were also missing their starting center Dillon Conn, back up center Marco Salcedo and several other players, only mustered 89 yards of total offense and four first downs. Their six turnovers were a season-high. Junior running back Kaiden Thrailkill managed 50 tough yards on 16 carries.