Panthers familiar with long bus trips
Siloam Springs’ football team faces a daunting 670-mile round trip to El Dorado on Friday for the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs.
The good news for the Panthers though is that they’ve done plenty of long trips before and been successful, including in the playoffs.
It was just last season Siloam Springs made the 680-mile there-and-back trip to Marion last year and returned home with a 23-13 victory.
Head coach Brandon Craig is hoping the sixth-seeded Panthers (4-6) can remember that experience as they brace for the third seed Wildcats (4-4). Kickoff is 7 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
I t comes down to us putting our mind to competing and for us to be focused when we get off the bus and ready to play. It gives us the chance to use that experience to our benefit.”
— Brandon Craig, Siloam Springs head football coach
“I think the kids who were on the team last year can look back and see that obviously Marion was a pretty talented football team last year,” Craig said. “We were able to take a very long trip last year on buses and go and do something that a lot of people obviously didn’t think we were going to do. It comes down to that. It comes down to us putting our mind to competing and for us to be focused when we get off the bus and ready to play. It gives us the chance to use that experience to our benefit.”
Craig said there are challenges in a long road trip. The team will leave around 9:30 a.m. Friday morning and spend most of the day on the road.
“It’s a tough trip. You’re going to be on the road for five-and-a-half hours on a bus and you get off the bus and the atmosphere is different,” Craig said. “Their team does not warm up in the stadium. It’s kind of a dead atmosphere. You’ve got to get your own motor running. You’ve got to create your own juice for the game. And then you come out the tunnel and everybody’s there and you’re ready to play. It’s definitely a different atmosphere. But our kids after going down there last year, my first peak at things and seeing how they work, it’s going to be more beneficial going into the playoffs.”
The Panthers have traveled to El Dorado for 6AWest Conference games in 2017 and 2019 and lost both games, including a 30-6 loss last year.
The Panthers will want to get off to a better start in the first quarter than they have in recent weeks.
Siloam Springs has given up 28 points in the first quarter in each of their last two games. However, in the last game, the Panthers rallied from a 28-7 hole against Russellville and came back to beat the Cyclones 50-47 to end a five-game losing streak and earn the No. 6 seed for the playoffs.
“Russellville’s a game we knew was going to be a toss up,” Craig said. “Both teams were struggling. We came out, we did not get off the bus and play well. We got down 28-7. What we were preaching on the sideline was continue to play, keep playing, be physical, be tough and keep fighting and the kids did. It was to their benefit and their credit that they just kept playing. We used every minute of the 48 minutes we had. It was really great to see.”
The Panthers finished with 581 yards of offense against the Cyclones, their best offensive output in several weeks.
Senior running back Jeff Phizema rushed for 205 yards and three touchdowns on 19 carries, including the go-ahead touchdown with 41 seconds left.
Quarterback Hunter Talley shook off a pair of interceptions that led to 10 Russellville points and completed 11 of 24 passes for 256 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 86 yards and two scores.
Gavin Henson, in his first game back since Week 5, caught five passes for 150 yards, while Keegan Soucie had three catches for 79 yards and a touchdown. Brendan Lashley also caught a touchdown for the Panthers.
On the season, Siloam Springs is averaging around 390 yards of offense per game — 225 on the ground and 165 in the air.
Talley has completed 106 of 190 passes for 1,613 yards, 13 touchdowns and six interceptions. He’s also rushed 149 times for 543 yards.
Henson, despite missing four games, is the Panthers’ top receiver with 20 receptions for 444 yards and two touchdowns. Soucie had 13 catches for 242 yards and two touchdowns. Christian Ledeker, who sealed the win at Russellville by forcing and recovering a fumble, has 14 receptions for 298 yards and four touchdowns.
Phizema is the Panthers’ leading rusher with 106 carries for 818 yards and seven touchdowns.
Zach Gunneman has 65 carries for 405 yards and three touchdowns and played well last week at Russellville in his second game back since being injured at Benton.
The Panthers may be without senior bandit Elijah Coffey, who injured an ankle at Russellville. Coffey is one of the team’s top defenders and has 17 receptions for 322 yards and three touchdowns.
All-state linebacker Cam Collins, who hurt an ankle at Lake Hamilton and missed the last two games, played briefly at Russellville before coming out of the game. Collins is a starter at linebacker on defense and on offense at running back has carried the ball 56 times for 433 yards and five touchdowns.
El Dorado is led by senior quarterback Eli Sheperd, who’s completed 109 of 170 passes for 1,350 yards, 12 touchdowns and five interceptions. He’s also rushed 41 times for 172 yards and two TDs.
Junior Sharmon Rester also plays some at quarterback. Rester has completed 21 of 45 passes for 281 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He’s rushed 40 times for 297 yards and seven touchdowns.
Senior Branden Moore leads El Dorado in rushing with 92 carries for 478 yards and seven TDs. DeAndra Burns leads the receivers with 56 catches for 755 yards and nine touchdowns. Receiver Jackie Washington has 26 receptions for 358 yards and two touchdowns. The Wildcats average around 340 yards of offense per game, 206 passing and 133 rushing.
El Dorado started the season 0-3 and then missed two conference games ( Jonesboro and Pine Bluff) because of covid-19 quarantine. The Wildcats went on to win four of their five conference games in the 6A-East.