ROGERS -- Siloam Springs didn't win its season opener Friday at Rogers, but the Panthers showed they'll fight no more what the scoreboard says.
Rogers senior running back Josh Sheperd rushed for 402 yards on 15 carries and six touchdowns as the Mounties held off the Panthers 51-40 at Whitey Smith Stadium.
The Panthers, playing without several key players, were thin on their depth chart and trailed the whole night, but the Mounties could never rest easy.
Even when Rogers went ahead 35-12 in the third quarter after a 90-yard touchdown run by Sheperd, Siloam Springs answered with two straight scores to pull within 35-26.
"We have tough kids and to me it really showed their character tonight, because there were times where they could have given up," said Siloam Springs head coach Brandon Craig. "We struggled all week with different adversities and we just kept fighting and I'm really proud of them."
Sheperd had a four-yard touchdown to cap Rogers' opening drive as the Mounties took a 7-0 lead.
Rogers looked like it had gotten a stop defensively, forcing a Siloam Springs punt, but the Mounties muffed the catch and Patrick Church recovered at the seven-yard line.
Two plays later, the Panthers pulled within 7-6 on a Hunter Talley touchdown pass to Brendan Lashley with 6:11 left in the first quarter. A bad snap on the PAT kept the Mounties in front 7-6.
Rogers scored on its next two possessions, both long touchdown runs by Sheperd. The first was a 72-yard touchdown run on third-and-2 with 4:37 left in the first quarter.
After Rogers stopped the Panthers on fourth-and short, the Mounties took over on the 48-yard line and Sheperd broke through on the next play for a 52-yard touchdown run.
"[Sheperd has] grown up so much since last season," said first-year Mounties head coach Chad Harbison, who played quarterback at Siloam Springs in the 1980s. "He's put in the work, had a great summer, just really become more of a student of the game and learned how to be patient, how to watch his offensive line, how to understand the fronts, and it's starting to pay off for him."
Siloam Springs answered with a scoring drive to cut the lead to 21-12. Christian Ledeker got it started with a 70-yard kickoff return to the 28. Talley rushed for 21 yards and, after a four-yard run by David Gowin, Talley scored from three yards out to make it 21-12. The Panthers tried a two-point conversion but the pass failed.
The Mounties dominated possession in the second quarter, running 24 plays compared to just five for the Panthers. Rogers did punch in another touchdown, to go up 28-12, on a TD pass from Noah Goodshield to Finley Bunch. But the Panthers held defensively on Rogers' second possession and forced a missed field goal to keep the score at 28-12 at halftime.
Siloam Springs' opening drive of the second half stalled near midfield and the Panthers pinned the Mounties back on the 10. But on the first play, Sheperd broke through for 90 yards and a score to put Rogers ahead 35-12.
The Panthers came alive offensively after that.
Aided by a pair of Rogers penalties, the Panthers moved down the field. Talley hit Lashley for 30 yards on third-and-long and later the two hooked up for a touchdown to bring Siloam Springs within 35-18. Talley threw to Jonathon Graves for the 2-point conversion to make it 35-20.
The Siloam Springs defense then forced a Rogers punt and the offense cashed in again for another score to get within 35-26. Gowin had a 15-yard run on the drive and Talley hit Nick Driscoll and Patrick Church for catches. Talley ran in from one-yard out with 10:10 left in the game, but the Rogers lead was still nine after the extra point missed by Anthony Sandoval, who handled the kicking duties in place of Ronald Mancia, who was one of several players not dressed out.
But the Panthers couldn't stop Sheperd, who had two more long touchdown runs of 64 and 63 yards in the fourth quarter.
"I just give it to my offensive line," Sheperd said. "They blocked very well, made perfect gaps for me. That's how I got into the end zone."
Siloam Springs answered both of the scores with Talley rushing for another touchdown and throwing for a 12-yard strike to Ledeker in the final minute. Ledeker also caught a 43-yard pass earlier in the quarter.
Rogers finished with 592 yards of offense, including 435 on the ground.
Goodshield completed 14 of 19 passes for 157 yards with Cash catching four passes for 64 yards and Bunch seven passes for 57.
Siloam Springs had 402 yards of offense, 139 rushing and 263 passing.
Talley, who also played safety on defense, completed 23 of 35 passes for 263 yards and rushed for 100 yards on 26 carries.
"Hunter's a warrior," Craig said. "He wanted to do whatever it takes to help our team. We had to be smart and know that this is not a conference game and we need him down the road, but he definitely helped us out on both sides of the ball."
Lashley caught 13 passes for 139 yards, while Ledeker had 5 catches for 74 yards. Gowin rushed for 36 yards on nine carries.
The Panthers impressed Harbison with their discipline and toughness.
"Siloam Springs, man, how clean and disciplined they play, and Coach Craig, those guys are so disciplined and they play so well," Harbison said. "They had one penalty. ... (Craig) does a great job. They've always got hard-nosed kids over there. I hope they win the rest of them."
The Panthers are scheduled to host Pea Ridge on Friday in their home opener. Pea Ridge lost 55-13 to Shiloh Christian on Friday.
"We're just going to try to get better," Craig said. "That's all we can do. Next week we're going to keep trying to get better and improve some things we messed up on, but I'm excited about our football team."
