Sloppy play costing SSHS

Panthers look to clean up mistakes

Jeff Della Rosa/Special to the Herald-Leader Siloam Springs junior wide receiver Dawson Armstrong hauls in a pass during last week’s game against Alma. The Panthers play at 7 p.m. Friday at Van Buren.
Jeff Della Rosa/Special to the Herald-Leader Siloam Springs junior wide receiver Dawson Armstrong hauls in a pass during last week’s game against Alma. The Panthers play at 7 p.m. Friday at Van Buren.

The difference between winning and losing isn't any big secret for the Siloam Springs Panthers.

The Panthers won their first three games of the season -- all nonconference -- but they've since lost their last two after jumping into 7A/6A-Central Conference play.

A quick look at the box scores from losses of 38-24 at Conway and 41-24 at home against Alma last week gives pretty obvious answers.

"In the last two games, we've had 20 penalties and I think six turnovers," said Siloam Springs head coach Bryan Ross. "There's no mysteries between winning and losing.

"We didn't play well enough to win Friday night (against Alma). We're not going to make excuses. They outplayed us, probably out-coached us. We've just got to refocus and go back to work and get better at what we do. The number one rule of most any sport is don't beat yourself. I think we've really done that the last two weeks. I think we've done a lot of things that led to our losing."

The Panthers (3-2, 0-2) will try and regroup this week as they travel to Class 7A Van Buren on Friday for a conference game.

"We've got to clean that up," Ross said. "We've got to take care of the ball better. We've got to limit the stupid pre-snap penalties, jumping offsides, false starts. Those are just killers because the opponent has done nothing. You've made the mistake yourself. We can't win doing that. We've got to clean that up for sure."

Ross pointed out that unless a team is just incredibly talented, no team is able to overcome that number of mistakes and keep on winning.

"At the level we're at, if you play well you win, if you don't play well you lose," he said. "There's not that much difference between the top and the bottom in this league. There's nobody you can circle and say that's a win. That's part of what makes it great is every week it's a dog fight. We've got to go back and tend to our knitting and go back and execute and do what we do and do it a lot better than we've done the last two weeks."

Van Buren is 2-3 overall and 0-2 in 7A/6A-Central Conference play after back-to-back losses to Greenwood (45-14) and Conway (42-35).

In last week's loss against Conway, the Pointers battled the Wampus Cats to a 21-21 tie at halftime before falling behind by three touchdowns in the second half. Van Buren put on a furious rally in the fourth quarter before falling short.

The Pointers defeated White Hall 51-6 in their opening game of the season before losing to Poteau, Okla., 23-13 in Week 2. Van Buren defeated Farmington 32-12 in Week 3.

The Panthers and Pointers have played three times in the last three years. Van Buren won an offensive shootout in 2012, 47-46 at Glenn W. Black Stadium, with the Panthers returning the favor 49-41 in Van Buren in 2013.

Last season, the Pointers raced out to a 28-6 lead in Siloam Springs powered by three touchdown passes from Jordan Barlow to Jaylyn Dye, before Siloam Springs pulled within 28-20 in the third quarter. Van Buren running back Ethan Hudspeth put the game away with a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter as Van Buren won 42-20, spoiling homecoming at Siloam Springs.

Barlow, Dye and Hudspeth are all back for the Pointers this season.

Hudspeth rushed for 158 yards on 33 carries in last season's win against Siloam Springs, while Dye caught six passes for 191 yards and Barlow completed 9 of 15 passes for 215 yards.

"They're very explosive offensively," Ross said.

Dye had touchdown runs of 66 yards and 44 yards against Conway last week. After the game, former Siloam Springs coach and current Conway head coach Clint Ashcraft told the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that Dye "is a Division I player out there."

Ross, the current Panthers coach, agreed.

"The Dye kid, to me he's the best offensive player in the league," Ross said. "The first time he touched it the other night, he went the length of the field against Conway. Every time he touches the ball, there's a chance for a real big play."

On the season, Dye has rushed 41 times for 484 yards and six touchdowns, while he's caught 11 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns. Hudsepth has rushed 78 times for 305 yards, while Barlow has completed 45 of 95 passes for 648 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions.

"The quarterback's experienced," Ross said. "The running back's a tough little runner. I would say they're a very dangerous team offensively."

Siloam Springs, meanwhile, hopes to get some of its personnel back this week.

Senior linebacker Gus Wright is on schedule to play this week after suffering a concussion against Conway and missing the Alma game.

The status of senior wide receiver/safety Matt Downing is not as clear. Downing was injured against Conway and carried off on a stretcher with a stinger-like injury. Downing missed last week's game against Alma.

The news wasn't so good for Panthers senior defensive lineman Kris Green, who went down against Conway with what turned out to be an ACL tear in his left knee. Green is not slated to play college football next season, and there has been talk of him trying to play with the injury if there's no chance of any further harm to the knee.

Offensively, Siloam Springs running back Ricky Hughes has rushed 91 times for 469 yards (5.2 yards per carry) and scored a pair of touchdowns. Senior Coby Roach leads the Panthers in receiving with 17 catches for 185 yards.

Senior quarterback Jordan Norberg has completed 74 of 129 passes for 805 yards. He's also rushed for 168 yards on 44 carries (3.8 yards per rush).

Ross said the Pointers are big up front defensively.

"It looks like they will do a really good job of playing the run," Ross said. "Teams have been able to throw it a little bit against them, but you're talking about teams like Conway and Greenwood. You're talking about two really good offensive teams there.

"It's going to be a war. It'll be a dog fight again. If we'll play like we're capable of and limit our mistakes, we'll have a chance to win.

"We've just got to take it one play at a time and try to get back to playing good football. We've not come close to playing a complete game yet. Early in the year, the defense was winning the games for us, and the last couple of weeks offense has started to play a lot better and defense has struggled a little bit. We got to keep working. I think if we'll keep our heads up and keep trying to get better every snap our best football is ahead of us."

Sports on 10/07/2015