Siloam Springs beats Pryor, Okla., in Craig’s debut

PREP FOOTBALL SILOAM SPRINGS 38, PRYOR, OKLA. 21

PRYOR, Okla. — Siloam Springs got the Brandon Craig era off to an exciting start Friday night.

Primo Agbehi hauled in a 63-yard touchdown pass on the Panthers’ first offensive play, and Siloam Springs drilled Pryor, Okla., 38-21 at Tiger Stadium.

Kaiden Thrailkill rushed for three touchdowns, and Siloam Springs turned two turnovers into touchdowns to pull ahead to 38-0 lead in the second half.

“I was proud of them. We made a lot of mistakes tonight,” said Craig, who was hired as coach in February from Oologah, Okla. “We’ve got a lot to work on. But their effort was there. I was excited to see that. If they just keep improving, I’m not going to set any limitations on them. They’ve just got to keep getting better each week.”

After the Panthers stopped Pryor on defense to open the game, they wasted no time in unveiling what they hope is one of their top weapons.

Quarterback Landon Ellis dropped back and found the speedster Agbehi on a skinny post to take a 7-0 lead with 9:53 left in the first quarter.

Siloam Springs nearly made it 14-0 but had to settle for a Christian Marroquin field goal early in the second quarter.

Later in the second, Thrailkill recovered a Pryor fumble on defense and then scored two plays later on a 14-yard touchdown run for a 17-0 lead.

Thrailkill zigzagged for a 40-yard run on the Panthers’

next possession and followed that with a 13-yard score for a 24-0 halftime lead.

“That was our first team goal — win game one,” said Thrailkill, who rushed for 123 yards on 18 carries. “Before the season even started, throughout the summer, we were grinding. We knew we had to win game one to get this momentum going because we came off last season with not very many wins, and that was hard on everybody.”

The Panthers cashed in a pair of turnovers in the third quarter to go up 38-0.

With Pryor driving inside the red zone, Agbehi intercepted a pass and returned it to the 7. Thrailkill then powered in on fourth-and-goal from the 1 for a 31-0 lead.

Siloam Springs picked off Pryor again on the next possession. Chase Chandler tipped a Trapper Gilstrap pass and Spencer Pippin intercepted at the 20, leading to a 9-yard Taylor Pool touchdown run and 38-0 lead.

Pryor scored on the final play of the third quarter and added two touchdowns in the fourth as Siloam Springs substituted liberally at the end of the game.

Siloam Springs finished with 394 yards of offense, including 255 on the ground.