Rally in the rain
Panthers 24, ’Jackets 14 Panthers dig out of 14-0 hole in 6A-West opener
For the second straight week, Siloam Springs found itself in a 14-0 hole after a poor start.
And for the second straight week, the Panthers were able to overcome their own mistakes.
Siloam Springs turned to its defense, which limited Sheridan to 97 total yards, and the offense eventually came around to rally for a 24-14 win over the Yellowjackets to open 6A-West Conference play on a rainy night at Panther Stadium.
The Panthers (3-1, 1-0) also rallied from 14-0 down last week at Van Buren before coming back and winning 35-32.
“Just disappointed with how we started the game,” said first-year Siloam Springs coach Brandon Craig. “We worked really hard on special teams and various aspects of the game. To come out and boot the ball around and do what we did to start the game, it’s just disappointing. Really proud of how we responded. Again, we were down 14-0, we could have tucked our tails and called it a night, but we kept fighting.”
Siloam Springs muffed a punt return and Sheridan recovered at the two on the game’s opening possession.
The Yellowjackets cashed in for a 7-0 lead when Montana Korte scored from three yards out.
On the Panthers’ next offensive possession, a bad snap on a punt resulted in a 22-yard loss and great field position for Sheridan (1-3, 0-1). Alden Lucas scored from 15 yards out with 5 minutes, 19 seconds left in the first quarter to give the Yellowjackets a 14-0 lead.
“We’re trying to establish mental toughness, discipline and effort,” Craig said. “Those are three things we’re really focused on, and to go out and do what we did to start the game didn’t show any of that. It just reflects poorly
on us. We want to make sure that when we go out we carry ourselves the right way and we play the way we’ve been coached to. We don’t give the team on the other side a chance like we are right now. For us to go forward in our conference, there’s no way we can make those mistakes and win the game.”
Siloam Springs had to punt twice more in the first half before its offense got in gear. Quarterback Landon Ellis hit passes of 16 and 25 yards to Gage Weaver down to the 8. After Ellis ran to the 1, Kaiden Thrailkill scored to cut the lead to 14-7.
Siloam Springs’ Chase Chandler recovered a Sheridan fumble on the next possession. The Panthers then tied the game 14-14 on a 30-yard pass from Ellis to Primo Agbehi with 1:54 left in the half.
Before the Panthers went to the locker room at halftime, Craig and the team met briefly on the field — something that isn’t done very often.
“He was talking to us about how even though we made a comeback and got to where the score was even, that was still unacceptable and we didn’t start the way Panthers should start,” said senior linebacker Matt Avery. “It’s not the way he’s coached us and he demanded better.”
Siloam Springs finally got its running game going at the end of the third quarter after three empty possessions to start the second half.
After Taylor Pool forced a fumble and Cam Collins recovered for Siloam Springs, Thrailkill carried 12 times for 69 yards and scored on fourth-and-1 to give Siloam Springs a 21-14 lead. Thrailkill had his fourthstraight 100-yard game, finishing with 36 carries for 165 yards.
The Panthers got another stop on defense and increased the lead to 24-14 on a 32-yard field goal by Harrison Losh with 1:45 remaining. Losh also kicked all three extra points with Christian Marroquin still out with a foot injury.
“That’s special, 32-yard field goal in the rain,” Craig said. “That’s a huge, huge kick. It takes a lot of courage and (Losh) did it and I’m really proud of him.”
Cam Collins intercepted a Sheridan pass to seal the victory for the Panthers. It was his second interception in as many weeks to go with his fumble recovery.
“Coach really talked to us a lot,” the sophomore Collins said. “He said just stay in it, and that’s what we did. We came out in the third quarter and hammered them.”
The Yellowjackets finished with 73 yards rushing on 36 carries, while only passing for 24 yards. The Panthers limited Sheridan to 35 yards of offense in the second half.
“We played hard,” said Sheridan coach Lance Parker. “We did a really good job on special teams. In a wet ball game, that’s really what ends up being the game. We struggled a little bit offensively. I thought our defense played really well. They were big and physical inside and I thought they whipped us pretty good. But those two fumbles on our part, we knew going into the game we really had to take care of the football to have a chance. We had our chances.”
The Panthers had 273 yards of total offense. The rushing total was 147 yards on 48 carries but includes the 22-yard loss on the punt. Ellis completed 9 of 21 passes for 126 yards. Weaver got three passes for 49 yards, while Agbehi had two catches for 28 yards and Spenser Pippin two catches for 31 yards.