El Dorado knocks off Siloam Springs 49-23
SILOAM SPRINGS — The long trip to Siloam Springs wasn’t an easy one, but it turned out to be a good one for El Dorado.
The Wildcats took a big step toward qualifying for the Class 6A playoffs with a 49-23 mercy rule win over Siloam Springs at Panther Stadium.
“It was worth it though because we’ve been up and down,” said El Dorado coach Scott Reed. “We’ve not been real solid. We had some good things happen tonight. Our kids played hard.”
El Dorado (4-4, 2-3) has a one game lead for fifth place on both Siloam Springs (1-7, 1-4), Sheridan and Texarkana going into the final two games of the season.
The Wildcats punished Siloam Springs on the ground, rushing for 338 yards on 49 carries. The Wildcats also had 115 yards through the air and finsihed with 453 yards of offense.
El Dorado got a score from its defense as well and built up a 42-6 lead with 5:44 left in the third quarter when Jarius Curry scored on an 11-yard run to enforce the Arkansas Activities Association sportsmanship rule.
Curry wound up leading the Wildcats with 117 rushing yards on 10 carries, while Richard Kesee had 110 yards on 12 carries and four touchdowns.
After Bishop Foster intercepted a Siloam Springs pass in the first quarter, Kesee got the Wildcats
on the scoreboard on their ensuing drive with a six-yar touchdown run.
Kesee had a run of 19 yards earlier in the drive and Curry had a 21-yard run.
Kesee scored again with 7:17 left in the second quarter to make it 14-0.
The Wildcats went up 21-0 later in the quarter when linebacker Johnathan Hall stole the ball away from Siloam Springs quarterback Luke Lampton and returned the ball around 30 yards for a score.
Lampton hit J.D. Horn for a 64-yard touchdown pass to bring the Panthers within 21-6.
Siloam Springs got a stop on defense and had the ball at the 26-yard line just before the half but the Panthers turned the ball over on downs.
El Dorado cashed in when Shun Levington took a reverse 62 yards for a score and a 28-6 halftime lead.
Kesee scored his third touchdown of the game to make it 35-6 in the second half. After Curry’s run started the mercy rule, the Panthers scored a safety to get within 42-8, and James Boyd recovered a fumble in the end zone to get within 42-16.
Kesee’s last touchdown run came from 29 yards out in the fourth quarter.
“Really pleased tonight with Richard Kesee and Shun Levingston,” Reed said. “They gave us a lift.”
The Wildcats did suffer a blow when senior running back Anthony Thomas went down with what appeared to be a broken leg in the third quarter.
“It looks like it’s a broken leg,” Reed said. “All he asked is if I thought he’d be back and ready for next week. Bless his heart. Our kids, it just deflated us. The whole group was in tears.”
Siloam Springs finished with 255 yards of offense. Lampton completed 12 of 29 passes for 207 yards. Horn caught eight passes for 149 yards.
“We can’t afford to make any mistakes,” Siloam Springs head coach Bryan Ross said. “Bust a couple of routes and turn the ball over a couple of times, missed tackles. You can’t do that.
“But you have to give them credit too. Coach Reed’s had a lot of success down there, and even though they’re maybe down by their standards he still has some good football players.”