The Siloam Springs football team's depth at wide receiver and secondary took a hit on Wednesday.
Rising senior Dawson Armstrong, a two-sport athlete for the Panthers, received the results of an MRI that showed he tore his ACL in an injury suffered during 7-on-7 action on July 11.
Armstrong was penciled in as a starter for Siloam Springs at inside receiver on offense and was going to help the Panthers' defensive secondary at safety.
Armstrong is also an All-Conference pitcher for the Panthers' baseball team and was named the team's most valuable player after the 2016 season.
He is scheduled to have surgery on his left knee on Tuesday.
Armstrong will miss the 2016 football season, but coaches are optimistic that he'll be able to return to baseball in the spring.
"I hate it for him," said Siloam Springs football coach Bryan Ross. "He'd worked hard to have a good senior year. Obviously we were counting on him. Unfortunately it happens."
The injury occurred on the Panthers' first day back after taking two-and-half weeks off for the Arkansas Activities Association dead period.
Siloam Springs was playing West Fork as part of a five-team 7-on-7 night at Panther Stadium. Armstrong caught a short pass in the flat from quarterback Luke Lampton and turned up field.
He tried to juke a West Fork defender and planted with his left leg and went down.
"I stuck that left leg and it just popped," Armstrong said. "Me and the trainers were talking about it later and multiple people told me they heard it pop."
Armstrong was carted off the field and taken to the training room, but trainers and coaches were optimistic that the injury wasn't bad. Armstrong visited a specialist last week and was given the official results on Wednesday.
After the surgery, he is expected to have a six-month recovery period.
As a junior last season, Armstrong caught 14 passes for 157 yards and three touchdowns.
He was going to be the Panthers' top option at the "X" or inside receiver position.
Ross said a slew of Panthers will be counted on to step up in Armstrong's absence.
"You just say 'next man up' and let's go," Ross said. "I hate it for him. I hate it particularly when a senior gets hurt cause I know how hard that is. It's a blow, but that's why it's a team. We'll have somebody step up and get after it."
Ross and his coaches have not met yet to decide who will play the positions, but Montana Burke, Luke Gumm and Kormah Dorko have all played inside receiver, he said.
"We'll sit down as a staff and see what direction we want to go in," he said. "We had moved him back to safety too. He was going to help us back there. That's going to hurt us depth-wise defensively."
The good news for Armstrong is that he should be able to get back on the baseball diamond.
In 2016, Armstrong led the Panthers at the plate with a .352 batting average and 21 RBIs.
On the mound, he had a 5-2 pitching record with a 2.23 ERA in 40.2 innings. He was the team's center fielder when he was not pitching. He was named all-conference in the 7A/6A-Central and helped lead the Panthers (12-16) to the Class 6A playoffs.
Sports on 07/24/2016