BRANSON, Mo. -- The Siloam Springs football team had a good showing at the inaugural Battle at the Border 7-on-7 football tournament.
The Panthers went 4-2 overall and advanced to the tournament semifinals Thursday at Pirates Stadium at Branson High School.
Tournament host Branson won the tournament after beating Harrison 21-12 in the finals. The Goblins eliminated Siloam Springs in the semifinals in the game before that.
It was the end to a busy week for the Panthers, who attended a team camp at Bentonville West on Tuesday prior to heading to Branson for the Battle at the Border.
"Both the Bentonville West team camp and the Battle at the Border were great experiences for our kids and a chance for us to get better," said first-year Siloam Springs head coach Brandon Craig. "It also gave our kids more confidence heading into the season. I am very excited about the direction we are going."
Siloam Springs opened the day with a 16-0 win in pool play against Branson's junior varsity.
The Panthers then defeated Springfield (Mo.) Central 30-0.
Siloam Springs finished pool play by losing 18-14 on the last play of the game to Marshfield (Mo.).
The Panthers opened up bracket play by thumping Huntsville 30-6, and the Panthers then beat Bentonville's junior varsity 18-13 in the quarterfinals.
Harrison -- the Panthers' Week 2 opponent for this season and the past several years -- defeated the Panthers 30-6 to end the day.
Despite the loss to end the day, Craig was pleased with the Panthers' effort.
"Four and two on the day and we did a lot of good things," he said.
Craig added that projecting starting quarterback Landon Ellis took most of the snaps for the Panthers during the competition and played well.
Siloam Springs will continue its Panther Pride offseason workout program on Monday morning. The Panthers have two weeks until the start of fall camp on July 30.
NOTES: The 24-team tournament featured 12 Arkansas teams against 12 Missouri teams. Bracket play matched Arkansas teams against each other and Missouri did the same setting up a team from each state matching up in the finals. ... Branson started the day losing pool play games to Rogers and Bentonville West. ... West went 3-0 in pool play but lost to Rogers 13-12 in the first round of bracket play.
-- Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sportswriter Paul Boyd contributed to this report.
Sports on 07/15/2018