Siloam Springs pulls out win against Sheridan

SHERIDAN — Siloam Springs’ defense gave the Panthers a chance to win Friday, and the offense cashed in on the opportunity.

Then with the game on the line again in the final seconds, the Panthers’ defensive unit again rose to the occasion.

Christian Ledeker’s interception with 11 seconds left sealed a 28-27 victory over Sheridan in a 6A-West Conference game at Peoples Bank Stadium.

“Everything about going on the road in this conference is extremely hard,” said Siloam Springs coach Brandon Craig. “The travel time, all the things you have to manipulate, leaving school at noon, and then getting here and trying to get kids ready to play a high school football game. Playing a really good football team that really dominated us in the first quarter, we had to settle in and get going. Our kids responded. We had two big goal line stands. The one at the end was amazing. To get the ball back and drive back down and score was awesome.”

The Panthers (2-2, 1-0) had a pair of defensive stands inside the 5-yard line, including at the beginning of the fourth quarter with Siloam Springs trailing 21-14.

The Panthers offense responded with a 32-yard run by Jackson Norberg and a 55-yard touchdown pass from Taylor Pool to Oren Stafford to tie the game 21-21.

Sheridan (2-2, 0-1) fought back and scored on a 30-yard touchdown draw by Peyton Edwards, but the PAT was blocked and the Yellowjackets had to settle for a 27-21 lead with 6:15 left in the game.

Siloam Springs came right back and took the lead with 2:19 remaining on a 1-yard touchdown run by Taylor Pool for a 28-27 lead. Pool hit a 21-yard pass to Gage Weaver on the drive and then ran five straight times for 21 yards.

Sheridan got the ball back to the Panthers’ 30 in the final seconds before Ledeker’s pick sealed the game.

“I think we did a lot of really good things,” said Sheridan coach Lance Parker. “You know we just missed a lot of opportunities. Inside the five twice and didn’t come away with any points. We had an error on the field goal, and that caused me not to kick down there. We’ve got to clean up our kicking game. But they did a good job of running the football. We had a lot of trouble getting them down. They’re a good football team. Our conference is a dog fight every week. That’s what we expect every game.”

Sheridan came out strong in the first quarter and scored a pair of touchdowns on its first two possessions. Trace Watkins had a 10-yard TD run and then a 50-yarder to give the Yellowjackets an early 140 lead.

Siloam Springs came back and scored a touchdown in the second quarter and kept the lead at 14-7 after Sheridan had a 22-yard field goal blocked just before halftime.

The Panthers tied the game in the third quarter, but Sheridan answered again to go up 21-14.

Sheridan’s rushing attack, which had 179 yards on 30 carries in the first half, only had 57 yards on 16 carries in the second.

Siloam Springs finished with 331 yards of offense, but 247 of those yards came in the second half. The Yellowjackets had 388 yards of offense.

FOUR DOWNS

• Sheridan’s Trace Watkins rushed for 107 yards, but was held to minus one in the second half.

• Jackson Norberg rushed for 95 yards on 12 carries for Siloam Springs.

• Cam Collins had a 25-yard touchdown run in the third quarter for the Panthers.

• Siloam Springs returns home next Friday for the first time since Sept. 6 to host Benton for homecoming, while Sheridan plays at Russellville.