7-on-7 season
Panthers host session Monday
Siloam Springs’ football team returned to its summer schedule on Monday with the conclusion of the Arkansas Activities Association dead period.
The dead period lasted for two weeks at the end of June and the first of July, but the Panthers actually had a little more time off because of the coaches clinic in Conway before the dead period.
The team resumed its summer workouts on Monday and skill position players capped the day by hosting a 7-on-7 session with five other teams at Panther Stadium on Monday night.
Siloam Springs played four 20-minute games, winning their first three — victories against Huntsville, Gentry and Prairie Grove — before tying Greenland in the finale.
“I was pretty pleased for the most part,” said Siloam Springs head coach Bryan Ross. “We had a couple (kids) missing, but the kids that were here looked like they had a clue and competed. For being off for a little while, I was pretty pleased.”
Among those missing were projected junior starters, quarterback L.T. Ellis and running back Kaiden Thrailkill, who were on a mission trip to Canada.
With Ellis being gone, sophomore Taylor Pool took all the snaps at quarterback for the Panthers and had an impressive evening.
Siloam Springs 14, Huntsville 7
In the Panthers’ opening game against Huntsville, Pool overcame a shaky start to rally Siloam Springs to a 14-7 win.
Siloam Springs stopped Huntsville on its opening offensive possession when Spencer Pippin intercepted a pass, but the Panthers went three-and-out on their opening drive.
Huntsville scored on its next drive to take a 7-0 lead, and Pool threw an interception on the Panthers’ second possession.
But the Panthers’ defense got the ball back quickly after Tristan Moose intercepted a pass.
Pool then went to work, completing four straight passes to lead the Panthers 40 yards for a scoring drive to tie the game.
Pool hit Luke Gumm on a short rout and then found Primo Agbehi for 20 yards. He then found Nolan Wallis on a short gain before hitting Gumm for the touchdown.
Angel Noyola picked off another pass for the Panthers’ defense to get the ball back to the offense.
Pool threw for 13 yards to Gumm and then picked up eight more yards on a pass to Seth Hufford. Pool then hit Pippin for a 19-yard touchdown on the game’s final play as Siloam Springs picked up the win.
Pool finished 8 of 12 for 91 yards against Huntsville with one
W e had a couple (kids) missing, but the kids that were here looked like they had a clue and competed. For being off for a little while, I was pretty pleased. Bryan Ross Siloam Springs head football coach
interception. Gumm caught four passes for 38 yards, while Agbehi had one catch for 20 yards, Wallis one catch for six yards, Hufford one catch for eight yards and Pippin one for 19.
The Panthers defense, meanwhile, allowed Huntsville to complete 7 of 14 passes for 61 yards with three interceptions.
Siloam Springs 21, Gentry 14
The Panthers then took on neighboring-town Gentry, and the Pioneers struck first on their opening possession when a tipped ball in the end zone went through the hands on Marquan Sorrells and into the arms of a Gentry receiver for the score.
Pool and the offense answered quickly with a 25-yard pass to Agbehi in the middle of the field and a 15-yard touchdown to Pippin to tie the game.
Braden Smartt intercepted a pass on Siloam Springs’ next defensive possession, and the Panthers went back to work on offense.
Pool hit four straight passes to Agbehi, Wallis, Tate Criner, and a 19-yard TD pass to Pippin to take a 14-7 lead. The Panthers forced a turnover on downs, but Pool was intercepted on Siloam Springs’ next possession.
Gentry hit a 40-yard pass to tie the game at 14, but Pool answered with a 40-yard strike to Agbehi to take a 21-14 lead.
An interception by Thad Wright helped the Panthers finish off the victory.
Pool completed 8 of 14 passes for 135 yards and one interception against Gentry, while the Panthers’ defense gave up 7 of 15 for 123 yards.
Siloam Springs 7, Prairie Grove 0
Siloam Springs scored on its opening possession in a victory against Prairie Grove. Pool hit 4 of 7 passes, including a 4-yard TD pass to Agbehi.
But the Panthers’ offense stalled after that.
The Panthers had the ball inside the Tigers’ 10yard line on their next drive but couldn’t score.
However interceptions by Hufford and sophomore Gage Weaver helped the Panthers keep Prairie Grove off the scoreboard.
Pool completed 8 of 19 passes for 84 yards. Agbehi had two catches for 14 yards, while Gumm had two for 15 yards. Moose had one catch for 14 yards, while Weaver had one for 16, Wallis one for 13 and Hufford one for 12.
The Panthers’ defense limited Prairie Grove to 3 of 8 passing for 27 yards with two interceptions.
Siloam Springs 7, Greenland 7
The Panthers began to show some fatigue in their final game of the day.
Siloam Springs scored on its opening possession as Pool hit 4 of 6 passes for 40 yards, including a seven-yard touchdown to Tate Criner.
But Greenland answered with a score in two plays to tie the game up.
Both teams struggled offensively the rest of the way and were unable to score. The Panthers got down to the Greenland 6 on their next possession but failed to convert. Sorrells had an interception to stop a Greenland possession.
Pool finished 8 of 16 for 83 yards against Greenland. Weaver caught three passes for 40 yards, while Agbehi had one for 10, Hufford one for 10, Oren Stafford one for 11, Jackson Norberg one for five and Kriner one for seven.
The Panthers defense gave up 2 of 5 passing for 40 yards to the Pirates.
Final numbers
Pool finished the day completing 32 of 61 passes for 393 yards, seven touchdowns with two interceptions.
“Considering the kid didn’t get to play last year because of a broken hand, he’s probably ahead of where I would have anticipated,” Ross said of Pool. “We’re really pretty simple right now with what we’re doing, just trying to get where we can execute our base stuff pretty well.”
Ross said in next week’s session, Pool will be out on a church trip and Ellis will get the bulk of the reps.
Agbehi led all wide receivers with seven catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns. Gumm caught seven passes for 68 yards and a TD, while Pippin caught three passes for 53 yards and all three of his receptions were touchdowns. Weaver had four catches for 56 yards, while Hufford had three for 30, Wallis three for 22, Kriner two for 10 yards and a score. Stafford had one catch for 11 yards, Norberg one for five and Moose one for 14.
Overall the Panthers defense gave up 19 completed passes in 42 attempts for a total of 251 yards with eight interceptions in four games.
“I thought our kids broke on the ball well,” Ross said. “Maybe we had one bust, maybe two. I thought we were in the right place. We made plays on balls. Pretty pleased with what we did.”
Up next
The Panthers are scheduled to host a team camp with Farmington and Gravette on Thursday from 6 to 8 p.m. at Panther Stadium.
Siloam Springs will host 7-on-7 sessions on July 17 and July 24 before starting fall camp on July 31.