FAYETTEVILLE -- In the aftermath of the Class 6A boys soccer finals last Friday and just before the start of the girls game, Siloam Springs soccer coach Brent Crenshaw found sophomore forward Eli Jackson near the bench.
"A hat trick in the state finals, are you kidding me?" Crenshaw said with a smile to Jackson.
Siloam Springs boys soccer (21-5-1)
2017 schedule
Date Opponent Time
Feb. 28 at Van Buren W, 2-1
March 2 Springdale L, 3-1
March 3 at Owasso, Okla. W, 2-1 (5-4 PKs)
March 6 Grove, Okla. W, 1-0
March 7 at Bentonville West W, 3-0
March 10 vs. Van Buren# W, 1-0
March 11 vs. Clarksville# L, 0-0 (3-2 PKs)
March 11 vs. FS Southside# W, 2-1
March 16 Greenwood* W, 5-1
March 27 Muskogee, Okla. W, 3-1
March 28 at Harrison* W, 6-1
March 31 vs. McAlester, Okla.$ W, 2-0
April 1 vs. Holland Hall (Okla.)$ W, 2-1
April 1 vs. Fort Gibson, Okla.$ L, 3-2
April 10 at Berryville T, 2-2
April 11 at Clarksville* W, 2-1
April 12 Russellville* L, 4-0
April 14 Harrison* W, 2-1
April 18 at Greenwood* W, 2-0
April 20 at Russellville* L, 1-1 (11-10 PKs)
April 27 Clarksville* W, 2-1
May 1 Greenwood% W, 2-0
May 4 Benton% W, 3-2
May 6 at Russellville% W, 2-1
May 12 vs. Searcy+ W, 6-0
May 13 vs. Little Rock Hall+ W, 1-1 (3-1 PKs)
May 19 vs. Mountain Home++ W, 4-0
* 5A/6A District 1 match
# River Valley Cup at Blakemore Field, Van Buren
$ Panther Classic at Panther Stadium, Siloam Springs
% 6A-West Conference Tournament
+ Class 6A State Tournament in Siloam Springs
++ Class 6A State Finals in Fayetteville
It was no joke.
Jackson had just scored three goals and was named state finals MVP in the Panthers' 4-0 victory over Mountain Home to help Siloam Springs win its second straight Class 6A state championship and the Panthers' fourth overall.
"It's great, but I couldn't do it without my teammates," Jackson said. "My teammates brought it all together. It's great. It's great to win another state title."
Jackson scored the Panthers' first goal in the 21st minute of the match when he took a Francisco Sifuentes cross and fired in front of the goal. Mountain Home's keeper Spencer Foster blocked the first shot, but Jackson caught the rebound and put it in for a 1-0 lead.
"Francisco crossed it and I shot it," Jackson said. "The keeper saved, it, but I kept working and it came back right to me and I just tried to put it back in the net and I did."
The Panthers held the 1-0 lead through halftime and went ahead 2-0 after Christian Marroquin scored on a penalty kick less than three minutes into the second half.
Just 54 seconds later, Jackson scored again to give the Panthers (21-5-1) a 3-0 lead.
Austin Shull served up a free kick from in front of the Panthers' bench and Jackson was there in front of the goal to head the ball in for a three-goal lead.
"Before the game I asked coach if I could practice some long balls, which we never do," Shull said. "I felt like I needed to practice a long ball."
Shull explained that the ball behaves differently on a grass surface -- like the one at Razorback Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas -- than it might on the artificial turf surface at Panther Stadium.
"On turf it's different than hitting it on grass," Shull said. "So I asked, 'Can I come out and take a couple for practice just in case? It paid off.'"
Shull, a senior midfielder, picked up his 10th assist on the goal.
Jackson's final goal came with 26:12 left. Christian Marroquin, who scored the PK earlier for his team-leading 20th goal, sent a ball in toward the box.
Jackson streaked to his left while Foster came out of the goal to try and get it. Jackson got there first, collided with Foster, but not before flicking the ball over the Mountain Home keeper and into the net to complete the hat trick.
The hat trick gave Jackson 16 goals on the season. It should be noted that Jackson scored 16 goals in the Panthers' final 18 games after he missed the first nine games of the regular season with a hip injury he suffered in an Arkansas Activities Association benefit game against Springdale Har-Ber.
"I hurt it and I could barely run," Jackson said. "It kept me out until after spring break. I was so anxious to get back out there, and it felt so great to come back."
Jackson scored in his first game back against Muskogee, Okla., and then had two in his second game back against Harrison.
"He's worked every day," Shull said. "He's come out and shown himself and proved himself. He got MVP, got a hat trick tonight. I don't know. He's just a special kid. ... I'm excited to see him maybe break some records. That'd be awesome."
Jackson, who scored five goals as a freshman in the Panthers' championship season in 2016, said he'll find a spot for his MVP plaque.
"I'll definitely keep it," he said. "The Siloam tradition is coming to state and competing, and that's what we love to do -- just compete and work hard. ... It's playing for the city of Siloam and all the people and coaches and team and just keep working for them."
Sophomore 1-2 punch
The forward combination of sophomores Eli Jackson and Christian Marroquin combined for score 37 of the Panthers' 63 goals this season.
It was a huge question mark for the Panthers after they lost two all-state forwards in Ricardo Aguilar (24 goals, nine assists) and Aldair Umana (16 goals, 12 assists) from the 2016 state championship team.
The final numbers ended up being impressive, but there was a lot of growing and maturing done from the season's start to the final game.
"It's just one of those things, we had some young forwards," Siloam Springs head coach Brent Crenshaw said. "There was a lot of coaching involved, a lot of them asking questions, working hard in practice. We knew they had the talent. The technical ability, the speed, the understanding of the game. It's just that experience is tough to coach in pracitce.
"As the season kind of progressed, that confidence kept building."
Plan B still in pocket
The Panthers had a Plan B on how to attack Mountain Home's bunker-down style of defense in case Plan A didn't work out.
But there was no need.
With a goal in hand and several more in the second half, the Panthers never had to reveal what their next option was going to be in Friday's state finals.
"We had something, but we didn't have to use it," said Siloam Springs head coach Brent Crenshaw. "We had something planned if it didn't workout, but I felt fine at halftime up 1-0.
"It was in the back of my mind at halftime, but when we got that second goal, I just didn't think they could score two on us."
One more clean sheet
The Panthers picked up their eighth clean sheet of the year with the shutout of the Bombers in the state finals.
"We really focused on our defense," said junior left back Luke Gumm, "because we believe that's where it starts."
Mountain Home had a couple of early shots on goal, which goalkeeper Wyatt Church saved, but the Bombers weren't able to get much going offensively after that.
"I really think our defense is the strongest point," Gumm said.
Seniors finish
Siloam Springs head coach Brent Crenshaw made sure his seniors were on the field to finish their careers on the field in the state title game.
Starters Austin Shull and Francisco Sifuentes along with key reserve Noah Slater were on the field. Toward the end of the match, Crenshaw also got seniors Gilberto Garcia and Kormah Dorko into the game for the final minutes.
"Love my seniors," Crenshaw said. "Some of them didn't play a whole lot this year, but we tried to get those kids in the last seven minutes so they can say they played in the state championship game. Gilbert got two shots there in the last five minutes. Proud of those kids. We ended the game with all our seniors on the field. That's what I wanted to do."
Sports on 05/24/2017