CLAREMORE, Okla. -- It was a dominant performance all the way around for Siloam Springs on Friday night.
The Panthers, a heavy underdog going in, outplayed Claremore (Okla.) on offense, defense and special teams in a 44-7 blowout victory at Lantow Field on the campus of Claremore High School.
The fact the Panthers won the game didn't surprise the coaching staff, but the lopsided result was a bit of a shock.
"I felt like if we played well we'd have a chance to win," Siloam Springs coach Bryan Ross said. "Obviously, I never anticipated a 44-7 game. I'm proud of the kids. We've been on the receiving end of several of those the last few years. It feels good to turn the tables and dominate a football game."
Things went the Panthers' way from the opening kickoff.
Siloam Springs junior Coby Roach recovered Zebra running back Derrick Reliford's fumble on the opening kick, and Siloam Springs recovered at the 24-yard line.
Three plays later -- all runs by senior quarterback Chris Lampton -- the Panthers were in the end zone. Lampton carried for eight and 10 yards, and capped the drive with a six-yard touchdown run to put the Panthers up 7-0.
Siloam Springs' defense then went to work on the Zebras.
The Panthers forced a three-and-out, and then held Claremore on downs on their second possession. On the Panthers' third defensive stand, they were able to hold strong on a fake punt attempt to get the ball back.
"I'm incredibly proud of the way we played," said Panthers senior linebacker David Goodman. "Nobody chose us to win. We got back to our base defense and everybody flew to the ball. We played hard."
Lampton and the offense went back to work after the fake punt. The senior quarterback hit Zane Washington for 11 yards along the sideline and then he broke three tackles on a run of 15 yards into Claremore territory. Junior running back Ricky Hughes then ran up the middle for a 28-yard touchdown run to give Siloam Springs a 14-0 lead.
The Panthers got another stop on defense, this time forcing the Zebras into another turnover on downs.
The Panthers took over at the 30-yard line.On the first play senior Parker Baldwin slipped behind the Zebras defense and caught a 55-yard pass from Lampton down to the 15-yard line.
The Panthers made it down to the 9-yard line, before a 17-yard holding penalty pushed the offense back to the 26. Undeterred, Lampton hit Zach Davis for a 19-yard gain down to the 7, and Lampton picked up a first down with a four-yard run on the next play.
Hughes scored from three yards out to make it 21-0 with 5:49 left in the half.
Another defensive stop got the Panthers another scoring chance before halftime. An offensive pass interference penalty set the offense back 15 yards, but the Panthers recovered for a 27-yard field goal by Adrian Vazquez to take a 24-0 lead at halftime.
Ross said the message at halftime was not to not let up.
"It's a two-half game," he said. "You can't go in there at halftime and feel like you've got it. We mentioned to those kids what happened at Searcy two years ago (in the 6A playoffs). It doesn't take much to flip the momentum and allow the other team to get into it."
The Panthers opened the second half with a deep drive into Zebra territory, but a Lampton pass was intercepted and returned 90 yards for a touchdown by Claremore's Randel Williams to cut the score to 24-7.
The setback didn't affect the offense.
Hughes broke a 26-yard run on the first play of the next possession, and Lampton threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Baldwin for a 31-7 lead.
Siloam Springs' Misael Urena recovered another Reliford fumble on the next possession to set up another Panthers' score, which came on a 19-yard run by Lampton with 3:28 left in the third to give Siloam Springs a 38-7 lead.
The Panthers substituted liberally the rest of the game, pulling its starters and giving its second string and junior varsity players some valuable snaps.
Sophomore quarterback Luke Lampton and junior running back Cody Washington ran for a combined 40 yards, capped by Cody Washington's eight-yard touchdown run to set the final score.
Sophomore Cade Miller had an interception on defense late in the fourth quarter for the defense's first interception of the season.
Statistically, the Panthers crushed the Zebras, outgaining them 455-143.
Lampton finished the game 10 of 18 passing for 191 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed 13 times for 109 yards and two touchdowns.
"Chris did a great job running downhill, just like the old days," Goodman said.
Hughes finished with 84 rushing yards on 12 carries, as the team rushed for 274 yards on 37 carries.
Baldwin had two catches for 89 yards, while Zane Washington had five catches for 53 yards.
The Zebras struggled in the run and passing game.
Reliford, who rushed for 117 yards in the Zebras' 17-14 win against Rogers on Sept. 12, was held to 35 yards on 19 carries. Zebras quarterback Aaron McCullough completed 7 of 11 passes for 46 yards.
"Coach (Marc) Jones and the defensive staff, they did an awesome job," Ross said. "They felt good about the plan they had. Boy the kids went out and executed it. That's awesome."
The Panthers limited the production of Claremore playmaker Dustin Basks, who had three rushing yards on six carries and caught four passes for 31 yards.
"You know our kids, I think we overlooked Siloam a little bit, because we beat Rogers, and Rogers beat Siloam Springs," said Claremore coach Rob Gilbreath. "It's a totally different scheme. We knew we were going to have trouble. Eligibility hit us a little bit. Injuries hit us hard, too. I'm not making excuses. Coach Ross and Siloam just outcoached us tonight."
The Panthers committed 13 penalties for 82 yards and made some other mistakes, which Ross said will have to be cleaned up before Friday's home game against former SSHS coach Clint Ashcraft and the Conway Wampus Cats, who beat Springdale Har-Ber 32-15 in Springdale.
"We blew some opportunities there that we've got to make sure we correct," Ross said. "We can't do those from here on out."
Sports on 09/21/2014