PEA RIDGE --Siloam Springs matched Pea Ridge score for score early in the two teams' scrimmage on Tuesday, but the impressive offensive firepower of the Blackhawks proved to be too much for the Panthers.
Pea Ridge rolled up 381 yards of offense in just two quarters in a 25-14 victory over Siloam Springs in an Arkansas Activities Association benefit game at Blackhawk Stadium.
Pea Ridge 25, Siloam Springs 14
Siloam Springs^7^7^—^14
Pea Ridge^12^13^^25
First Quarter
Pea Ridge — Winn 96 run (kick failed), 7:46.
Siloam Springs — Canales 5 run (Perez kick), 6:43.
Pea Ridge — Holtgrewe 56 pass from Sainsbury, 5:00.
Second Quarter
Siloam Springs — Moose 30 pass from Ellis, 11:29.
Pea Ridge — Witcher 9 pass from Ellis, 10:18.
Pea Ridge — Holtgrewe 29 pass from Sainsbury, 8:11.
Siloam Springs^Pea Ridge
First Downs^10^10
Rushes-Yards^11-30^15-216
Passing Yards^224^165
Comp-Att-Int^13-25-2^13-19-1
Punts^2-31.5^1-26
Fumbles-Lost^0-0^0-0
Penalties-Yards^7-35^5-45
Individual Statistics
Rushing — Siloam Springs, Da. Ferguson 5-21, Ellis 3-7, Canales 1-5, Pool 2-(minus 3). Pea Ridge, Winn 6-177, Chase Duncan 5-16, Samuel Beard 2-6, Robby Pickthall 1-17.
Passing — Siloam Springs, Ellis 12-22-1-221, Pool 1-3-1-3. Pea Ridge, Sainsbury 11-15-1-153, Busey 2-4-0, 12.
Receiving — Siloam Springs, Gumm 6-87, Pippin 2-78, Moose 1-30, Hufford 1-10, Chandler 1-10. Pea Ridge, Holtgrewe 4-94, Witcher 4-38, Galbraight 1-10, Ralph 1-9, Winn 1-8, Wright 1-4, Duncan 1-2.
Missed Field Goals — Pea Ridge, Green 36.
The Panthers (1-9 in 2016) had some bright moments throughout the night, according to head coach Bryan Ross, but there's plenty to work on before Friday's season-opening game against Rogers at Panther Stadium.
"It looked like a scrimmage," Ross said. "I think the good things were we moved the ball at times. We had a few big plays. Bad things, we had some holding calls early, some motion penalties that we've got to get fixed. Defensively -- and not making excuses -- we didn't have two of our three starting D-linemen, (Corbin) Collins and (Kameron) Greenlee. We're thin right now. We get those two back, it will show."
The Blackhawks, Class 4A runner up in 2016 and ranked No. 2 in Class 4A by Hooten's Arkansas Football, took advantage of the Panthers up front, rushing for 216 yards as a team on 15 carries.
Blackhawks all-state running back Drew Winn dashed for a 96-yard touchdown run on his second carry of the night and went to rush for 177 yards on just six carries.
Meanwhile, Pea Ridge quarterback Jakota Sainsbury, after throwing an early interception to Siloam Springs senior Luke Gumm, went on to complete 11 of 15 passes for 153 yards and three touchdowns.
"We needed to play against somebody else," said Pea Ridge head coach Stephen Neal. "It was about time for that to happen. We'll go back in and see what we need to improve on before we have to play a really, really good Hamburg team."
Winn's 96-yard run gave Pea Ridge a 6-0 lead, but the Panthers responded quickly to take a 7-6 lead.
Siloam Springs junior quarterback Landon Ellis found junior wideout Spenser Pippin behind the Blackhawks' defense and Pippin raced for a 71-yard catch down to the Pea Ridge 15-yard line.
Ellis then hit senior Seth Hufford for 10 yards before Kevin Canales carried the ball for a five-yard touchdown run. Jorge Perez' extra point gave the Panthers a 7-6 lead.
Pea Ridge answered back with a score of its own. On third-and-11, Sainsbury hit Hayden Holtgrewe for a 56-yard touchdown pass, but the Blackhawks failed on the two-point conversion and the score was 12-7.
Siloam Springs scored again to go up 14-12 on their next drive.
Ellis opened the drive with a 10-yard pass to Chase Chandler and later a 21-yard pass to Gumm. On third-and-17, Ellis hit senior Tristan Moose in the end zone for a 30-yard touchdown to put the Panthers up 14-12.
The back and forth continued with Pea Ridge's offense. Winn ripped off another big run, this time a 54-yard carry.
"He's had a number of those over the last two years," Neal said of Winn. "The hope is that he'll continue to do that."
Robby Pickthall followed Winn's run with a 17-yard run, and Sainsbury hit Bryant transfer Jordan Witcher for an eight-yard touchdown pass to give the Blackhawks an 18-14 lead.
Siloam Springs went back on offense with sophomore quarterback Taylor Pool getting a shot under center, but the Panthers went three-and-out and were forced to punt.
"We're trying to get reps," Ross said. "L.T. is doing a good job, but Pool's done a good too. He just needs the work and needs the experience. I had planned on doing that."
Pea Ridge scored again, this time on a 29-yard touchdown pass from Sainsbury to Holtgrewe, who finished with four catches for 98 yards and two touchdowns.
Pool was intercepted on Siloam Springs' next possession by Justin Koon. Koon later ended another Panthers drive with an interception of Ellis, who returned for the final two series.
Ellis finished the scrimmage 12 of 22 for 221 yards. Gumm led all Siloam Springs receivers with six catches for 87 yards.
The Panthers failed to get much going on the ground, rushing for 30 yards on 11 carries.
Junior running back Kaiden Thrailkill played in the 12-play series to open the scrimmage, but he did not play in the two-quarter scrimmage because of a sore shoulder. Thrailkill was involved in a big collision near the goalline after producing a 38-yard catch on a screen pass, which is likely where he hurt his shoulder.
"Kaiden could've (played)," Ross said. "He tweaked his shoulder a little bit. No sense in doing something to make that worse."
Collins, a junior offensive and defensive lineman, didn't play after hurting his knee in an intrasquad scrimmage on Aug. 18.
"He hurt his knee a little bit last Friday in our scrimmage," Ross said. "We thought it would be better to hold him out."
The Panthers were missing several other players who were not dressed out, including Greenlee, who's been out since early in August after a fireworks accident.
Neal, Pea Ridge's second-year coach, was impressed with what he saw from Siloam Springs.
"They're a really good football program," Neal said. "They're coached really well. I know they've got some injury problems right now, especially up front. Anytime you've got some injury problems up front that's going to hurt you a little bit. That's why it's called a scrimmage and not a game right now. They'll be just fine."
Ross said the Panthers will be able to take film from the scrimmage and use it to get better for this week.
"We saw what we've got to get better at," he said. "It starts with being more physical up front and limiting our mistakes. We've got something to build on here, and (Pea Ridge is) a good football team. We knew they were."
• • •
The Panthers' varsity began the scrimmage with 12 straight offensive plays against Pea Ridge's varsity defense, with every play starting from the 40-yard line.
Ellis had a 40-yard touchdown pass to Seth Hufford wiped away by a holding penalty. He completed all six passes in the period for 80 yards, including the pass to Hufford.
The Panthers offense also scored a touchdown in the goalline session, which consisted of four plays starting at the 10-yard line.
Siloam Springs' JV offense ran 12 plays against Pea Ridge's JV defense.
Pool hit 6 of 6 passes for 21 yards, while rushing three times for 23 yards. Gustavo Fuentes rushed three times for 10 yards.
Defensively, the Panthers' varsity defense gave up a 40-yard touchdown run to Winn in the 12 plays series. He had five carries for 78 yards. The Blackhawks also scored a touchdown in their goalline session.
Siloam Springs' JV defense gave up 67 rushing yards on nine carries and one completed pass for 17 yards.
Sports on 08/27/2017