Benton 49, SSHS 14 Benton runs by Siloam Springs
Wallace runs for 208 yards in victory
Siloam Springs wasn’t able to slow down Zak Wallace and the Benton offense on Friday night.
Wallace, a 6-foot, 190-pound junior, rushed for all of his 208 yards and scored three touchdowns in the first half and Benton ran away with a 49-14 mercy-rule victory in a 6A-West Conference game at Panther Stadium.
“With that O-line and that running back, there just wasn’t anything we could do about it,” said Siloam Springs head coach Bryan Ross. “I mean when they can handle you like that, not much you can do. They’re big up front. Big, physical, which we knew they were. Then the running back’s a good hand. I thought our kids played hard. Sometimes it’s just not good enough.”
Siloam Springs (2-3, 1-1) opened the game with a 47-yard pass from Landon Ellis to Luke Gumm on the first offensive play, but Ellis was intercepted by Benton’s Tristan Hutchinson in the end zone on the very next play.
The play looked like a miscommunication between Ellis and his intended receiver as no one was near Hutchinson in the end zone.
Ross said it was a bad play call on his part and Ellis was trying to throw the ball away an didn’t get it far enough.
Two plays later, Wallace bolted 76 yards for a touchdown to give Benton a 7-0 lead.
Siloam Springs came back and answered the score with a 15yard touchdown pass from Ellis to Gumm to tie the game 7-7.
But Benton (4-1, 2-0) scored less than 50 seconds later when Wallace took a screen pass from Gavin Wells and ran around the edge for a 19-yard score.
Benton went on to score four more first-half touchdowns to take a 42-7 lead at halftime.
Benton’s Beau Brewer scored from three yards out with 50 seconds left in the first quarter for a 21-7 lead.
Wallace had a 52-yard run to set up another touchdown run for himself early in the second quarter for a 28-7 lead.
“I thought our running game got going,” said Benton coach Brad Harris. “I thought Zak Wallace did a great job. I thought our offensive line did a great job early on, gave us some running lanes, and Zak’s tough to bring down. That first series you saw he broke a tackle and made a long run for us. He does a tremendous job.”
D.J. Sturgis returned an Ellis interception 85 yards for a touchdown to make it 35-7, and Brewer had one more touchdown run to end the first half as Benton pulled ahead by 35 points.
Cade Clark returned the opening kickoff of the second half 90 yards for a score and a 49-7 lead.
Siloam Springs punched in a touchdown run by Kaiden Thrailkill in the fourth quarter.
Siloam Springs had 213 yards of offense, led by four catches for 104 yards by Gumm. Thrailkill had 60 yards on 16 carries. Kevin Canales added an interception on defense.
Benton finished with 347 yards of offense. Wells, a sophomore wide receiver who took over at quarterback after Colen Morrow got hurt last week, completed 11 of 14 passes for 89 yards and rushed seven times for 40 yards.
“The initial part of the game I thought we did a decent job,” Harris said. “I didn’t think we played real crisp all night tonight. But you know when you win 49 to 14 you’ve got to be happy with it.”
Benton returns to action next week against Texarkana, while Siloam Springs travels to Greenwood.