PKs lift Siloam Springs past El Dorado

SILOAM SPRINGS — El Dorado had Siloam Springs on the ropes for the first 60 minutes of the opening round of the Class 5A boys soccer state tournament, clinging to a 1-0 lead.

The host Panthers (16-3), though, converted two second half penalty kicks — both by senior Franklin Cortez — to stay alive with a 2-1 victory at Panther Stadium.

“We talked about watching on film [Wednesday],” Siloam Springs Coach Luke Shoemaker said. “The team that limits their mistakes advances in state soccer. So on the flip side of that, El Dorado had two penalties in the box that allowed for us to have some PKs. Franklin, he’s a sniper when he gets in there.”

El Dorado stunned the Panthers in the third minute when R.J. Thomas got behind the Siloam Springs defense for an early goal.

The score remained 1-0 with El Dorado goalkeeper K.J. Thomas, who was starting for injured Dave Carruth, making several saves along the way to keep the Wildcats in front.

“We asked a lot out of K.J., and he met the challenge for sure,” said El Dorado Coach Rex Hayes.

But in the 62nd minute, a hand ball in the box set up a Siloam Springs penalty kick, which Cortez drilled into the lower left corner to tie the game 1-1.

The match remained tied until the 72nd minute when Cortez was fouled in the box by Patrick Sixbey.

Cortez scored again in the lower left corner for a 2-1 lead. It was his team-leading 23rd goal of the season.

“I feel the two goals that didn’t happen in open play really deflated us, and we didn’t play our game the way we should have played it there toward the end,” Hayes said. “It’s just tough to come back mentally from those kind of calls. I didn’t get a good look at the handball. The foul in the box is what it is.”

The Wildcats (10-4-1) played the final minutes of the game with just 10 men after Sixbey received his second yellow card, which resulted in a red card.

VAN BUREN 6, HOT SPRINGS 0

Pedro Rodriguez had three as the 5A-West top-seed Pointers (18-2) advanced to the quarterfinals with a shutout of Hot Springs.

The three goals gave Rodriguez 26 on the season.

Jose Zarate added two goals for Van Buren, while Monases Delafuente added a goal.

GIRLS SILOAM SPRINGS 6, SHERIDAN 0

The Lady Panthers scored four first-half goals and rolled to the opening-round victory.

Bri Anderson scored two goals and had an assist, while Madi Race added a goal and an assist. Karen Flores, Bethany Markovich and Kimberly Garcia each added goals and Jordan Rush an assist for Siloam Springs.