Eighth-graders shut out Bentonville Washington
■ The Panthers had three interceptions on the night.
The Siloam Springs eighth-grade football team intercepted three Bentonville Washington passes and the Panthers used just enough offense to blank the Wildcats 20-0 Thursday at Panther Stadium.
The Panthers got a first half interception from Gio Flores, which led to a scoring drive. Carlos Sandoval picked off two passes in the second half deep in Panther territory — including one in the end zone that he turned 98 yards to the Washington 2 — to set up another score.
“We did enough of the right things tonight,” said coach Dwain Pippin. “Carlos Sandoval came up with two big, huge interceptions. … Two great plays.”
After Flores’ interception in the first quarter, the Panthers’ offense cashed in their first touchdown.
Quarterback Jackson Still hit Mikey McKinley for a 32-yard pass to the 2-yard line.
Still ran in three plays later with 45.3 seconds left in the first quarter. Still also ran in the two-point conversion as Siloam Springs led 8-0.
The Panthers scored again with 9.8 seconds left in the first half when Still used his athlecism to dodge some defenders and ran down the home sideline for another score and a 14-0 lead.
“He’s an athlete,” Pippin said of Still.
After Siloam Springs’ offense was stopped at the 1-yard line on fourth down in the third quarter, Washington mounted a drive that began at the 1 and drove inside the Panthers’ 10-yard line down to the 9.
But Sandoval came up with his first interception to snuff that scoring drive.
After a Siloam Springs punt, the Wildcats took over again and made it down to the 3-yard line after Thatch Dover threw a 36-yard pass.
Sandoval intercepted his second pass three plays later and ran it all the way back to the Wildcats’ 2-yard line.
Still scored on the next play on a 2-yard run to put Siloam Springs up 20-0.
Siloam Springs finished with 25 rushes for 87 yards.
Still rushed 12 times for 48 yards while completing two passes for 48.
Flores rushed 12 times for 39 yards.
The Panthers’ defense held Washington to 116 yards on 26 carries and 57 passing yards.
“We’ve got a long ways to go,” Pippin said. “We’ve got a lot of things we need to get corrected. But for the first night out with this group, this group lost to Bentonville Washington last year in the first game. But we’re a different team from last year. … A lot of things we can build on for sure.”
Seventh-grade
Bentonville Washington 19, Siloam Springs 0 Washington scored a pair of first half touchdowns and added one in the second half to defeat the seventh-grade Panthers 19-0.
Washington’s Kameron Mead rushed eight times for 91 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown run with 34.7 seconds left before halftime to give the Wildcats a 12-0 lead. Washington’s Lincoln Harrison threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Tristan Brown earlier in the half for the first touchdown.
Siloam Springs was looking to cut Washington’s lead in half with a scoring drive, moving the ball inside the redzone when Washington’s Mason Meyer picked off a pass and returned it 90 yards for a touchdown.
Offensively, Siloam Springs finished with 65 rushing yards on 22 carries.
Tristan Anglin had six carries for 52 yards, while Jayden Hooton had 25 yards on eight carries.
Up next
Both the seventh- and eighth-grade teams are back in action at home Thursday against Fayetteville Ramay.