Boys score quick, stop Roughers

If you weren't paying attention early in both halves, you missed the bulk of the Siloam Springs' boys goals in Monday's soccer match against Muskogee, Okla.

The Panthers scored in less than 70 seconds to open each half and went on to defeat the Roughers 3-1 in a nonconference match at Panther Stadium.

Sophomore forward Eli Jackson, who's been nursing an injury since early in the season, returned on Monday and his presence was felt almost immediately as he scored the match's first goal just 68 seconds into regulation.

"Honestly I didn't see it," said head coach Brent Crenshaw. "I just looked up and the ball was in the back of the net. I was the same way you were. I was trying to get situated over there and he had scored."

Jackson's goal was unassisted and his first of the season.

"It was good to have Eli back," Crenshaw said.

Christian Marroquin, a left-footed forward, went to his right foot to score the Panthers' second goal. He unleashed a laser near the right post to put the Panthers up 2-0 with 11:56 left in the first half. The goal was Marroquin's team-leading seventh of the season.

The Roughers got a goal with 9:58 left to cut the score to 2-1, and the Panthers remained ahead by one goal at halftime.

Siloam Springs got back on the offensive early in the second half as a Luke Gumm cross was finished up by senior Noah Slater just 74 seconds into the second half.

The goal was Slater's first of the year and Gumm's first assist.

"We started off with two forwards and two center mids, and it didn't work out, so we went back to our 4-3-3 (4 defenders, 3 midfielders, 3 forwards) and we seemed to control the game after we switched to that," Crenshaw said.

The Panthers improved to 8-2 overall with the win heading into Tuesday's match at Harrison. Results were not available at presstime.

"It's good to have (nearly) everybody healthy," Crenshaw said. "Irvin (Rios) is out with an injury, but Luke Gumm stepped in and did a good job. That's why we play a lot of kids. We're deep. There's not a big difference between out starting 11 and next five or six off the bench."

Siloam Springs is scheduled to return to action on Friday when they host the first Panther Classic at Panther Stadium.

The Panthers' varsity and junior varsity squads, Greenwood and five Oklahoma schools -- Fort Gibson, Jenks, Holland Hall, Putnam City North and McAlester -- round out the tournament field.

"I tried to make it a border battle between Oklahoma and Arkansas schools," Crenshaw said, "but it ended up being more Oklahoma schools."

Games will consist of two 35-minute halves and the contests will go to penalty kicks if tied after regulation.

The Siloam Springs JV will open the tournament against Fort Gibson at 3:30 p.m. Friday, followed by Holland Hall vs. Putnam City North at 5:15 p.m., Jenks vs. Greenwood at 7 p.m. and Siloam Springs vs. McAlester at 8:45 p.m.

The tournament will continue on Saturday with each team playing two games.

"Yeah we've got McAlester coming Friday night," Crenshaw said. "They're another team out of Oklahoma we just don't know a whole lot about. Then the next day there's possibilities of playing Putnam City North or Holland Hall, some really good teams. Jenks and Fort Gibson are on the other side of the bracket. There's some really good teams on the other side of the bracket, so I'm looking forward to a good weekend."