Texarkana trio lead Razorbacks to playoffs; Panthers out
Siloam Springs will play its final game on Friday against Russellville.
TEXARKANA — DeJordan Mask got the momentum back for Texarkana at just the right time Friday night, and Jordan Hall took care of the rest for the Razorbacks.
Together the two Texarkana sophomores along with 10thgrade quarterback Drake Browning proved to be too much firepower for Siloam Springs to handle as Texarkana clinched a 6A playoff berth with a 51-28 victory at Razorback Stadium.
Texarkana (3-6, 2-4 6A-West) will host El Dorado (4-5, 2-4) next Friday with the No. 5 playoff seed on the line in the regular season finale. The loss, meanwhile, eliminated Siloam Springs (1-8, 1-5) from playoff contention.
“I’m proud of our kids,” said Texarkana coach Todd Ledford. “We’re so young. As many games as we can play for them, the better.”
Hall rushed for 264 yards and five touchdowns, while Browning threw for two scores. Mask caught one touchdown pass and had a huge kickoff return to swing momentum back in the Razorbacks’ favor just before halftime.
Once down 20-0, Siloam Springs pulled within 20-14 on a Luke Lampton touchdown run with 32 seconds left in the first half.
Fearing an onside kick, Texarkana sent its hands team out for the kickoff and the Panthers tried to squib kick it. Mask fielded the ball and returned it 70 yards to the 16 to set up a short field for Texarkana. Browning then threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Braswell with 12.7 seconds left in the half to get the lead back up to 26-14.
“I think that pretty much sums up our year,” said Siloam Springs head coach Bryan Ross of the sequence. “We come out and spot them three touchdowns. We fight back to cut it (to 20-14). We decide to squib it so they don’t get a return. They’ve got their hands team in, and somehow they manage to run the kickoff all the way back and give them a chance to score a touchdown. You just can’t do that. I don’t know what happened.”
Ledford said the play certainly had an impact on the game.
“It’s funny how that happens when you put your hands team out there,” Ledford said. “I’ve seen it happen a lot. DeJordan Mask has been a good player for us all year. He scoops it up and he’s a pretty dynamic player for us and he made a big play for us right there.”
The game turned into an offensive scorefest in the second half with Texarkana capitalizing on short fields after several onside kick attempts from Siloam Springs.
Mask caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Browning to open the second half and give the Razorbacks a 34-14 lead. Siloam Springs scored on Lampton’s third rushing touchdown of the game to make it 34-21, but the Razorbacks countered with a 32yard field goal by Braswell for a 37-21 lead going into the fourth quarter.
Hall scored twice in the fourth quarter on runs of 23 and 49 yards. He averaged nearly 14 yards per carry on 19 totes on the night.
“Another sophomore, again,” Ledford said of Hall. “He’s a hard runner between the tackles. You can see he’s kind of shifty. He had a big game.”
Mask caught nine passes for 92 yards for Texarkana, while Browning completed 14 of 18
passes for 149 yards and rushed 10 times for 48 yards.
Lampton scored his fourth touchdown for Siloam Springs to set the final score. He finished with 24 carries for 92 yards and four touchdowns, while sophomore Kaiden Thrailkill had 20 carries for a career-high 115 yards.
“He’s just a sophomore,” Ross said of Thrailkill. “I’m sure it takes awhile to get used to the speed of the game. Of course he’s been injured. He’s back to being nearly healthy, so I think you saw a little bit of what he’s capable of doing. He had a good game for sure.”
Siloam Springs spotted the Razorbacks a 20-0 lead after Hall scored three first quarter touchdowns.
Following a three-and-out by Siloam Springs’ offense on the game’s opening possession, Browning broke a 16-yard run on Texarkana’s first play and Hall followed with a 39-yard run for a score and a 6-0 lead.
After a Siloam Springs punt, Hall scored again on a 13-yard run to cap a 91-yard scoring drive. Hall carried five times on the drive for 47 yards while Browning completed 4 of 4 passes for 44 yards.
Hall made it 20-0 on Texarkana’s next drive with a 56-yard gallop after Browning completed a 15-yard pass to Korleon Campbell. The possession was set up by an interception from Texarkana’s Nick French.
“I was afraid the kids were going to lay down and quit,” Ross said. “They fought back. It would just be nice if for once we could get a lead on somebody and play from the front. I don’t know that we’ve done that really any at all this year.”
The Panthers began to show some offensive life at the start of the second quarter.
Starting on their own 10yard line, Lampton gained 10 yards for a first down, and then he hit Carlos Gonzales for a 24-yard pass into Razorback territory. Kaiden Thrailkill ran for 14 yards and Lampton scored from 23 yards out to bring Siloam Springs within 20-7.
The Panthers recovered an onside kick and drove down to Texarkana’s 33, but the drive stalled and Siloam Springs turned it over on downs.
However, the Panthers’ defense also forced a turnover on downs and Siloam Springs got the ball back with less than 4 minutes left at the 33-yard line.
Lampton rushed for 10 yards for a first down and Thrailkill carried four straight times 26 yards to the Texarkana 35. Lampton hit Montana Burke for a seven-yard gain and a penalty moved the ball to the 10. Three plays later Lampton scored from four yards out to get the Panthers within 20-14.
Texarkana finished with 465 yards of offense, including 316 rushing yards. Siloam Springs totaled 329 yards, 208 of which came on the ground.
The Panthers will host Russellville (8-1, 5-1) and former coach Billy Dawson (2004) in their season finale on Friday at Panther Stadium. The Cyclones, who defeated Siloam Springs 45-35 in Week 10 last season to keep the Panthers out of the playoffs, are fighting for the No. 2 seed out of the 6A-West.
“You never want to go into that last game knowing it’s your last game,” Ross said. “I’m sure our kids will show up and compete. It’s certainly been a tough year, but I think our kids’ attitudes have remained pretty good. We would just like to experience a win again. We’ll give it our best shot next week.”