Panthers return to form
Norberg, Collins provide lift for SSHS
Jackson Norberg and Cam Collins gave Siloam Springs a spark at the running back position Friday against Pryor, Okla.
The two-headed running attack of Norberg and Collins combined to rush for 142 yards and quarterback Taylor Pool had 90 yards on the ground and 184 in the air as Siloam Springs pulled away in the second half for a 38-13 victory.
Collins, a junior starter on both sides of the ball, missed last week’s season-opening loss against Van Buren while still recovering from a knee injury. Collins’ absence in turn limited Norberg on offense because he was having to play defense most of the night.
With Collins back Friday against Pryor, that freed up both he and Norberg to have big nights.
Norberg rushed for 85 yards on 16 carries and caught two passes for 38 yards, including a 26-yard touchdown on a screen pass with 14 seconds before halftime to give Siloam Springs a 17-6 lead.
“I just saw all maroon and I thought, ‘Oh yeah, here we go, take it to the house,’” Norberg said.
Collins rushed for a pair of touchdowns in the second half and finished with 57 yards on nine carries.
“It was awesome,” Collins said. “Last week it was really tough. But this week I knew I wanted to be out there. I gave it my all.”
Collins’ return definitely made a big impact, according to Siloam Springs coach Brandon Craig.
“Realistically, we didn’t do anything different,” Craig said. “It’s just a kid that has experience and one of our best players back. You take one of your best players off the field you’re going to suffer in some areas. Obviously him standing on the sideline last week hurt us big time. But he didn’t have a choice. He was back this week full speed and made a huge difference I think.”
The Panthers (1-1) opened the game with a 17-play, 73-yard scoring drive that took 7 minutes, 49 seconds off the clock.
Pool, Norberg and Collins combined to rush 11 times for 31 yards on the drive, and Pool hit 4 of 4 passes for 37 yards. Pool hit Gage Weaver for a 19-yard strike down to the 1, and Pool scored on a one-yard run with 4:11 left to take a 7-0 lead.
The Panthers went up 10-0 with another scoring drive in the second quarter.
Pool hit passes of 13 and 15 yards to Weaver, and then another pass ricocheted off a Pryor defender into the arms of Tate Criner for a 34-yard gain down to the 11.
A penalty negated a Pool touchdown run, and the Panthers had to settle for a 26-yard field goal from Harrison Losh with 5:46 remaining to take a 10-0 lead.
Siloam Springs’ defense forced another Pryor punt, but the Tigers held the Panthers as well and forced a punt attempt from the 12-yard line.
Pryor’s Ethan Chavez blocked the punt and got the ball and returned it for a touchdown to get the Tigers on the scoreboard. Their two-point conversion try failed and Siloam Springs held to a 10-6 lead.
The Panthers responded right before half, as Pool hit Gage Weaver on a pair of passes to the 26, setting up Norberg’s score for a 17-6 lead.
The Tigers hit a 43-yard touchdown pass from Trapper Gilstrap to Bobby Belew in the third quarter to cut it to 17-13 with 7:38 remaining.
Siloam Springs responded with another long drive that took more than 5:40 off the clock. Pool hit a pair of passes to Tanner Broyles on the 14-play drive and Norberg had a 15-yard run to get the ball inside the 10. Two plays later Collins ran in from three yards out as Siloam Springs went up 24-13.
The Panthers converted another long scoring drive to open the fourth quarter as Collins scored on an 11yard run.
Later in the quarter, Palvinson Phizema broke a 33-yard touchdown run as Siloam Springs closed out the game with three straight scores.
“Yeah I thought (Siloam Springs) kinda controlled the ball on both lines of scrimmage,” Pryor coach Kenny Davis said. “They did a good job there. Then whenever we made a play, a lot of firstgame stuff there. We just shot ourselves in the foot. We didn’t really give ourselves a chance.”
Defensively, the Panthers held the Tigers to 249 yards — 127 yards on 28 carries and 122 passing yards. The elusive Gilstrap rushed 13 times for 47 yards and completed 11 of 24 passes for 122.
Elijah Coffey led with four solo tackles, while Christian Ledeker had three solo tackles and five assisted tackles. Hunter Talley, Esguin Bocanegra, Kolby Fesler and J.P. Wills all had one sack and Wills recovered a fumble. Oren Stafford caused the fumble.
Siloam Springs finished with 445 yards of offense, including 48 rushes for 261 yards as a team.
Pool hit 14 of 24 passes for 184 yards, with Weaver leading the receiving corps with seven catches for 85 yards.
“What I told our kids all week is we need to control the line of scrimmage — both sides of the ball,” Craig said. “For the most part we did that. I thought late in the game we really started controlling it. Our offensive line really took over.”
On special teams, Losh connected for touchbacks on five of his seven kickoffs.
Siloam Springs travels to Class 5A power Harrison (20) this week. The Panthers and Goblins have played each of the last five seasons with Harrison having won the last three.
“I think as a team, I told the kids we’re close to busting out and becoming a good football team,” Craig said. “We just have to take care of the little things every day all the time to make sure we don’t make silly mistakes — like getting a punt blocked — that hurt our football team.”