CARRYING THE LOAD
Thrailkill coming off highlight performance
Kaiden Thrailkill came into the 2018 football season in the best shape of his life and it’s paying off on the field. The Siloam Springs senior running back rushed 36 times for a career-high 257 yards and two touchdowns last Friday in the Panthers’ 35-32 win at Van Buren — his third straight game of topping 100 yards rushing to start the season. “Anytime you rush for over 200 yards as an individual, it’s going to be a special night,” said Siloam Springs head coach Brandon Craig. “That’s something I just think he’ll remember forever and it’ll be something that a lot of people can think back on and talk about.”
It was a big night for Thrailkill, and it might have even been historical.
It’s the most yards in a single-game that a Panther has rushed for in at least the last 15 seasons and maybe even beyond that. Historical records are not readily available for Siloam Springs football to accurately place Thrailkill’s performance.
Other recent standout rushing games include Larry Sellers against Greenbrier in 2004 (227 yards), Scout Alexander versus Gentry in 2011 (215 yards), Mitchell Dolezal in 2013 against Van Buren (199 yards) and Luke Lampton in 2016 versus Sheridan (210 yards).
“It was a good game that we had all around,” Thrailkill said. “We clearly didn’t throw the ball much because our run game was working.”
As a team, the Panthers rushed for 332 yards on 52 carries.
“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Thrailkill said. “We were just running the ball all night, and the yards started to rack up, I guess. We had some good holes to run through, so it was possible to rack them up.”
After reviewing the film of the win against Van Buren, Craig said Thrailkill had his entire run game working well.
“He set up his blockers really well,” Craig said. “He made some guys miss and ran over some guys. He just had one of those really outstanding nights that he’s capable of having, and our offensive line played extremely well.”
Thrailkill’s banner night gives him 527 rushing yards on 83 carries in three games for an average of 6.3 yards per carry. He’s scored six touchdowns.
Thrailkill said he just tries to keep moving forward every play.
“Coach Craig’s mindset is four yards every play,” he said. “That’s what we need to do. That’s what I’m aiming for. If I can get four yards then I’m happy with it. If I run hard and keep my feet churning and break a couple of tackles, then it allows me to get further into the secondary and then it’s off from there.”
Thrailkill is capable of grinding out the tough yards, but he can also bust the big one.
He has 19 runs of more than 10 yards, and four of 30 or more yards. Three of the big runs came last week against Van Buren, including a 43-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
He had a 32-yard run later in the second quarter to set up another score. About the only mistake he made was in the fourth quarter, after a 35-yard run, Thrailkill fumbled on the next play at the 10-yard line and Van Buren recovered.
“I guess I was just extremely gassed,” Thrailkill said. “The play before was a 35-yard run. L.T. (Ellis) motioned me up and I was dying. I guess I grabbed the ball, the kid hit me just right and it just popped out.”
In the postgame, the fumble haunted Thrailkill as ball security has been a point of emphasis this year.
“I feel like this year I’ve worked on it a lot better, worked on it more than last year,” Thrailkill said. “Last year I had quite a few. That was tough. It kind of stuck on me.”
As a sophomore in 2016, Thrailkill had 89 carries for 350 yards, including his first 100-yard game at Texarkana. He also caught 11 passes for 141 yards.
Thrailkill had a solid junior season for Siloam Springs, rushing 197 times for 864 yards and nine touchdowns. He also caught 17 passes for 249 yards and three scores.
He put on some weight during the offseason, weighing as much as 205 pounds when Craig was hired in early February.
From the spring through the summer, Thrailkill lost around 15 pounds to his current playing size of 5-foot-10, 190 pounds.
“He did it on his own,” Craig said. “He came in and did everything we asked, worked out extremely hard. Every time we did something conditioning-wise he was always at the top of the list as a guy up front trying to do the best. He told me when the summer was over it was the best shape he’s ever been in. He was excited going into the season.”
This season, Thrailkill opened the season with a three-touchdown, 123-yard performance in the Panthers’ 38-21 win at Pryor, Okla.
He had 158 yards and a touchdown in Siloam Springs’ 42-7 loss against Harrison in Week 2 leading into the game last week at Van Buren.
As the Panthers host Sheridan (1-2) this week to open 6A-West Conference play, Craig knows the Yellowjackets will be keying in on stopping Thrailkill.
“It’s a challenge for us, not just him,” Craig said. “We have to find ways to get other people the ball and spread it around. (Van Buren’s) defense just kind of dictated that we could get him the ball that many times and have our offensive line be that successful based on how they lined up. That was one of those things that made that happen. As we go forward, we’re going to have to look for other ways to move the football.”
But Craig is also happy to keep feeding Thrailkill the ball.
“I think he’s a kid that’s just hungry to get better,” Craig said. “He’s totally bought in to what we’re trying to do. Really, he outworks everybody and I just love the kid.”