Even in the midst of defeat last Friday, Brent Crenshaw didn't lose sight of what the Siloam Springs boys soccer team has accomplished the last four years.
The Panthers lost to Russellville 4-1 in the Class 6A state finals on Friday at Razorback Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
The loss dethroned two-time defending 6A champion Siloam Springs' bid at a three-peat.
"I'm still happy the kids got here," said Crenshaw. "I don't think anybody that saw us play in March would have thought we'd be at the level of playing in a state final."
Crenshaw referenced the Panthers' play in mid-March where they limped into spring break with a 4-4-3 record overall after a 3-1 start.
After spring break, the Panthers picked things up and won six straight games before hitting another rut, losing three of four heading into the 6A-West Conference Tournament.
Once postseason play started, Siloam Springs won five more in a row before falling to the Cyclones in the state title game.
"It's life. You've got to pick yourself back up and keep going," Crenshaw said. "I know it hurts, and it's going to hurt me for a while. It's going to hurt them for a long time, but that's why you always have to keep pushing and get better at everything. Because there's always somebody else that's trying to beat you."
The Siloam Springs seniors helped the Panthers to a record of 63-26-5, winning state championships in 2016 and 2017 and state runners-up in 2015 and 2018.
13th meeting goes to Cyclones
Siloam Springs and Russellville's match on Friday was the fourth time the two teams have played this season and the 13th overall in the last four years.
The two teams split the four games this year with Siloam Springs winning by 1-0 scores at Russellville on April 3 and in the 6A-West Conference Championship on May 5. Russellville spoiled Siloam Springs' senior night with a 4-1 win over the Panthers on April 20 and then another 4-1 win in the state finals.
"They're a very good team," Crenshaw said. "A lot of respect to them, they were the better team today. It's frustrating that we gave up two goals on stuff that we had specifically talked about and worked on all week.
"How they like to play back side and play it across the goal, so we've got to be disciplined and mark up across the goal. We didn't do that. We gave up a free header in the second half when we didn't mark up back side, so it's frustrating from that part."
Siloam Springs has won seven of the 13 meetings against Russellville since 2015. The Cyclones defeated the Panthers in the title game in 2015 with the Panthers winning the title over the Cyclones in 2016.
"The sting of the boys' loss hurts, just with the fact that it wasn't very competitive," Crenshaw said. "I mean 4-1. That's a butt kicking. I've got to go back and look at what I did wrong so we can fix that for next year.
"Yeah it does, it stinks to lose to any team but happy for them, they were the better team today. They represented our conference. It's pretty exciting to have two teams from the same conference in the state final."
Sports on 05/23/2018