Trip to Batesville turns into nightmare

This fall — hopefully — will mark my 11th season covering Siloam Springs football on a fulltime basis. I don’t count the years spent working at the Benton County Daily Record (2006-2009) as being on the beat, but I did do a few stories on the Panthers during those years.

Regarding future attractions, I plan on presenting my top 10 games covered for Siloam Springs football over that span, and maybe even a few other sports depending on how long this covid-19 pandemic takes us. For the record I’d much rather be out chronicling the continued story of Panther athletics, but for now we have to play the greatest hits.

Speaking of hits, the night of Nov. 9, 2007, certainly has to be among the greatest in Panther football history.

On that night, Siloam Springs made the 265-mile trip to Batesville and smashed the No. 6 Pioneers 40-15 in the opening round of the Class 5A playoffs.

I was there that night too. But I didn’t get to witness what turned out to be an offensive clinic by quarterback Nathan Nall and the Panthers.

I was on the Rogers High beat in 2007, but the Mounties didn’t qualify for the Class 7A playoffs, so that freed me up to go elsewhere with one of our teams in the Daily Record’s coverage area.

I left our little townhouse in downtown Bentonville that morning of the game and headed toward Batesville. Both my wife and almost 2-year-old son had come down with the stomach bug the day before but I seemed to have skirted free of anything as I hit the road.

I should have known something was up when I stopped for lunch in Russellville and basically had no appetite to eat burgers and fries at Feltner’s WhattaBurger.

It only got worse from there. I made it to Batesville, checked into the Holiday Inn Express and promptly lost my lunch and just about everything else.

In the immediate aftermath I felt great! And being almost 26 years old, foolish and embarrassed, I did not tell my sports editor Paul Gatling that I had come down with the stomach bug, nor did I believe it was going to stop me from covering the game that night.

Boy was I wrong!

I made it to Batesville’s stadium and the game started, but shortly after kickoff I was back in the restroom worshiping the queen. And the problem this time was others around knew I was pretty sick.

Soon my keys were taken from me, and the kind folks of Batesville — in fear that I was dehydrated — decided I needed to go to the White River Medical Center there in Batesville.

Someone drove me there; I have no idea whom. Believe it or not, the game continued on without me in attendance and the Panthers rolled the sixth-ranked Pioneers, earning their second playoff win in school history and first since beating Alma in 1987.

And I wasn’t there to see it.

The lead of the story in the Nov. 10, 2007, report from the Benton County Daily Record said, “Siloam Springs took out 20 years of frustration Friday night in northeast Arkansas.” But I didn’t write it. In fact to this day I’m not sure how the game report was compiled, but I’m glad it was.

Here are some highlights I missed:

• Nall completed 21 of 25 passes for 362 yards and four touchdowns.

• Roger Jackson caught nine of those passes for 211 yards and three touchdowns.

• Caleb Knoner caught six passes for 91 yards and a touchdown — all in the second half.

• Kicker Ramon Gomez kicked four field goals.

I am sure there are many more hallmarks, but I wasn’t there to see them.

Back at White River Medical Center, I had an IV bag of saline pumped into me, and folks it is amazing how much better you feel when you get that. Somehow I got my keys back. My employers were made aware of my situation. Embarrassed doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt.

I also had to let my wife know that I was in the emergency room, not to panic her or anything.

Eventually I was discharged from the ER and I made it back to my truck — and I have no idea how that happened. I also made it back to my hotel room and slept.

The next day, my boss Kent Marts and a new Daily Record employee Jeff Mores made the trip over to Batesville to pick me up and bring me back to Bentonville. Jeff came along for the experience of seeing a different part of Arkansas and to drive my truck home.

I rode in Kent’s big Nissan Titan and we listened to the same Taylor Swift album over and over and over. To this day, I can’t hear “Our Song” and not

think of Kent Marts.

Legend of this fateful trip apparently made its way back to the Siloam Springs football office. I remember the story was brought up in the coaches office once, and I fessed up to it. Head coach Bryan Ross, who was offensive coordinator in 2007, joked, “That was you?”

Yep, it was me.

— Graham Thomas is the managing editor for the Herald-Leader. He can be reached at gthomas@nwadg.com. The opinions expressed are those of the author.