Shootout celebration
■ Panthers defeat Little Rock Hall in penalty kicks.
Wyatt Church came up big for Siloam Springs, and as a result the Panthers are heading back to the Class 6A state championship game.
Church, a sophomore goalkeeper for the Panthers, made two saves in the kicks from the spot (penalty kicks) period, and Siloam Springs defeated Little Rock Hall 1-1 (3-1 PKs) in the period to advance to this week’s state title game.
Church said he prefers to have a scouting report on the opposition going in, but there wasn’t time to gather one on the Warriors prior to the game.
He came up big for the Panthers regardless.
“I just kind of had to go where I thought they would go and fortunately it worked out for me,” said Church. “It feels pretty good. The guys were happy. I’m not trying to brag but a lot of them said I helped win the game, and it feels like that. It’s a really good feeling. It’s one of the best feelings honestly.”
Christian Marroquin, Eli Jackson and Jose Serrano converted their penalty kicks for the Panthers (20-5-1), who set a school record for wins in a season.
Church allowed Hall’s first shooter Nabeel Alwan to score, but he made a save on the second shooter, Leonard Velasquez, and Hall’s third shot by Lester Teletor hit the left post.
Church made a save diving to his left on Hall’s fourth shot by Tony Carmona, and Serrano converted Siloam Springs’ fifth and final shot for the game-winner.
“It’s a running joke at my house: I’m not very good at PKs when it comes to a coach,” said Siloam Springs head coach Brent Crenshaw. “I tried to do our best and put our best five shooters out there.
“It’s 50/50 (for the goalkeeper). It really is. He’s got to guess one way or the other and just go for it. I’ve heard of players being able to read hips and then dive. It’s so fast you can’t do it. You’ve got to pick a side and just go.”
Crenshaw credited Church with working with volunteer coach Hannah Poor, a former Siloam Springs all-state goalkeeper and current JBU player.
“He picked the right side,” Crenshaw said. “We didn’t have any film on them. We didn’t know which way they went. It was all on him. So proud of him and so happy for him.”
Before the penalty kicks period, the teams played to a 1-1 tie for 100 minutes — two 40-minute halves and two 10-minute extra time period.
Marroquin scored the Panthers’ regulation goal in the first half, and Hall’s Yarly Giron scored in the second half on an open goal to tie the match. Hall keeper Carlos Fabian also made two saves in the kicks from the spot period.
“One of the best teams in the state in 6A,” Siloam Springs head coach Brent Crenshaw said of Hall.
Siloam Springs 6, Searcy 0
A big home crowd had the Siloam Springs boys fired up for their first game of the Class 6A state soccer tournament.
The defending 6A champion Panthers scored three goals in each half and rolled to a 6-0 mercy rule victory over Searcy in the quarterfinals at Panther Stadium.
“It was a pleasure playing and all these fans, it gave us a lot of energy,” said junior midfielder Irvin Rios, who scored two goals and had an assist. “It was the first time that all of them came to watch. We just gave them a huge show. I’m proud of us today.”
With a large group of students and parents in attendance, the Panthers came out firing and may have been even a little too pumped up early on.
“What a great atmosphere,” said Siloam Springs coach Brent Crenshaw. “Most fans we’ve ever had I think. They were just so excited. They wanted to get the ball and go forward, forward, forward, and that happens when you get young men who are excited. Then they calmed down and started playing.”
The Panthers received a bye in the opening round and had to watch all of Thursday’s opening round games.
“That’s tough sitting around all day,” Crenshaw said. “They were anxious. They were ready (Thursday) night. They’ve been ready for a week. They were just ready to play. Luckily the weather held off. It was a beautiful day, beautiful crowd. The boys always play extremely hard. We got three goals in the first half, got them inside (at halftime) and got them to settle down a little bit and just told them to play soccer.”
Rios got the scoring started for Siloam Springs in the 15th minute when his shot found the upper corner of the net. Eli Jackson had the assist on the play.
Jose Serrano was fouled inside the 18-yard box in the 16th minute, and Christian Marroquin scored the enusing penalty kick to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead. It was Marroquin’s team-leading 17th goal.
The Panthers went ahead 3-0 in the 19th minute when Rios played ahead to Eli Jackson, who finished for his 12th goal of the year.
Rios connected on another long shot in the second half for his third goal of the season, to make it 4-0.
“We moved (Rios) from left back to center mid halfway through the season just because he’s kind
of special,” Crenshaw said. “He kind of settles us down in the midfield. Then his finishing has been really well. I’m proud of Irvin. He’s a kid that you can tell him to play wherever
you want to, kind of like (Austin) Shull, he’ll just go play.”
Brian Andrade and Christian Ruiz-Vegas added goals in the second half for Siloam Springs.