The Siloam Springs Maroon-White spring game is usually a closely-fought affair, with teammates battling each other in a friendly game of football that comes down to a few points. But this year, the result was anything but close, with White trouncing Maroon, 41-7, Friday night at Panther Stadium.
Four turnovers highlighted the day for White, as its defense kept the other half of the Panthers squad scoreless until the very last play of the game.
"In all the years we've been doing this, I think this is the first rout that we've had. Usually it's a pretty close ball game," said Panthers coach Bryan Ross. "But, you know, it's like I told Maroon, you can't turn the ball over four times, I don't care what the situation is... it's going to bite you."
The first of Maroon's turnovers came early, and left Maroon down by 14. During the previous play, White finished their second drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Kaiden Thrailkill to Chase Chandler and made the score 7-0 with a successful extra point attempt.
Maroon's ensuing possession was a short one, as L.T. Ellis threw an interception to Spenser Pippin, who returned the ball 35 yards to the end zone. One extra point later, and Maroon was down 14-0.
During the next play, Dalton Ferguson took a handoff out to the left, where he was tackled and injured on the play. Ferguson was helped off the field, and he remained on the sidelines on crutches for the remainder of the game.
"We think its just a MCL sprain," Ross said. "Our trainers are pretty dang right most of the time. I think he'll be fine."
Maroon marched down the field, finding themselves facing fourth-down and goal from the 11-yard line after taking a sack. Ellis got chased off the line, and threw up a pass off-balance, which was intercepted by Gage Weaver for White's second turnover. White added another two touchdowns to make the score 28-0 at the half. Maroon's other two turnovers were an interception from Tate Criner and a fumble in the second half.
White pushed their advantage to 36 points when Fabian Gonzalez ran 12 yards through three defenders to score a touchdown.
White's final score came a few possessions later on a 55-yard reception from Taylor Pool to Weaver, who was able to turn along the sideline and run 45 yards away from the Maroon defensive backs.
Maroon took the ball back with three-and-a-half minutes remaining. Braden Smartt brought Maroon into scoring position with a 20-yard run that took the team to the 16 yardline. Smartt took another handoff with less than a minute remaining, but was dropped for a loss of five by Pippin.
Ellis took a final snap as the buzzer signaled the end of the game. Ellis dropped back and heaved a pass into the back right corner of the end zone, leading Seth Hufford. Hufford came down with the ball, ending White's bid at a shutout.
Despite the turnovers, Ross said he liked what he saw from his offensive backs, with both Pool and Ellis putting up good passes.
"It's a couple things he'll learn from," Ross said of Ellis' two interceptions. "L.T. will be a good hand for us."
Ross said his team has switched its defensive scheme to 3-4, and tried to keep plays simple on both sides of the ball.
"You want to practice what you're going to do on Friday nights; want to get better at what you do on Friday nights," Ross said.
While the Panthers are in good shape throwing the ball and running with Thrailkill, Siloam Springs may struggle with its big boys up front, due to a lack of depth.
"Up front, unfortunately, a couple of kids are probably going to have to play both ways," Ross said.
But the Panthers are ready to rebound from a rough 2016-17 campaign, and the boys have shown up to work, Ross said.
"It seemed like last year, everything that could go wrong did go wrong," Ross said. "But our kids have always had a pretty good attitude here... Our kids always come to work."
Sports on 05/21/2017