Competitive field expected at Stateline Shootout

Hosting a 7-on-7 tournament is something Brandon Craig envisioned for the Siloam Springs football program when he first became head coach in the spring of 2018.

Three years later, the vision has become reality as the Panthers will host the inaugural Stateline Shootout on Saturday at Panther Stadium and the adjacent fields at Sager Creek Soccer Complex.

"When I first got here, this is something I had a vision of," Craig said. "We're in a perfect location. We sit right on the (Arkansas-Oklahoma) border. We can get plenty of Oklahoma teams. We can get plenty of Arkansas teams, and there's been some other tournaments in the area that are two-day, they cost a lot of money when you take your kids with hotels and meals. We're providing lunch. It's an easy drive for all these schools to our school. It's a one day tournament, so they don't have to get hotels. I think overall it was in my mind, we can put this on, we can have a great competition here, we can showcase our school, we can showcase our facilities and we can showcase our town."

Sixteen teams, including host Siloam Springs, are participating in the tournament, which will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday with pool play and six games for each team. The teams will break for lunch, which is provided by Siloam Springs, and then a single-elimination championship bracket will start at 2:30 p.m.

"From a football aspect of it, we want Siloam to be thought of as a football town," Craig said. "We're not there yet. We're working in that direction. This is one of those components that can help us get to that long term. It took three years to get here because you have to have so many people that support you, and you can't just do (a 7-on-7 tournament) on a whim and it turns out bad and nobody wants to come back. We're trying to make this an event that occurs every year, that everybody wants to be a part of, that's special to the kids and special to the coaches and they want to come back and do it again."

Teams from Arkansas include Siloam Springs, Gravette, Rogers High, Rogers Heritage, Bentonville West, Van Buren, Springdale, Harrison, Pea Ridge and Farmington.

Oklahoma teams are Craig's former school Oologah, Pryor, Collinsville, Muskogee, Sapulpa and Kansas.

Craig said it will be a very competitive field.

"To start with my old school is coming," Craig said. "We've got Oologah coming. They've always been really competitive and been in a great place. It's going to be exciting to see those guys again."

Craig said Collinsville was a rival when he was at Oologah and they'll be competitive. Muskogee competes in Oklahoma's largest classification and they'll have good athletes, he said.

The Panthers are familiar with Pryor, having played the Tigers in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, both Siloam Springs victories.

Kansas was a late entry after new head coach Warren Kirk took the Comets' job, Craig said.

The Panthers compete against Bentonville West and Pea Ridge on Tuesday nights during 7-on-7 competitions at West High School in Centerton. Siloam Springs also played Pea Ridge this past fall and will play the Blackhawks again this September.

Van Buren competes in the 6A-West with Siloam Springs, and Harrison also has been a mainstay on football schedule as a nonconference opponent since 2014.

"We all know who Harrison is," Craig said. "We deal with them every year."

Farmington, Springdale, Rogers High and Sapulpa all have new head coaches. Of particular interest to Siloam Springs is former Panthers QB standout Chad Harbison is now the head coach at Rogers High.

"It will be exciting to see all these teams, all these new head coaches, and you know it's just going to be fun," Craig said. "It'll be highly competitive, and we know at the end of the day it's just 7 on 7 and we're trying to get better."

From a team perspective, Siloam Springs is looking at the Stateline Shootout as a chance to improve both offensively and defensively, Craig said.

Offensively, the Panthers return senior All-State quarterback Hunter Talley, who passed for 1,752 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2020. But the returning players at most of the other skill positions don't have a lot of experience on Friday nights.

"Offensively we have a lot of changes," Craig said. "They need as many on-the-field, competitive reps as possible. They're going to get seven games guaranteed, so that's a tremendous day for them to go out and run our offense and learn what's going on."

Defensively, the Panthers do return some experience in their back seven with safety Christian Ledeker, linebackers Stone Stephens and Caden McHaney along with other players.

The Panthers are making changes defensively, which began in the spring.

"Defensively we've had a little bit of a staff change and a little bit of a philosophical change, but our kids are pretty much in place, skill-wise," Craig said. "They're experienced kids, so it hasn't been as tough a transition for them.

"We know we're going to be young in spots. We know we're going to make mistakes, but it's just an opportunity to get out there and learn."

Team camp at Farmington

The Panthers are scheduled to participate in a team camp at Farmington on Wednesday, June 16.

It's the Panthers' first team camp since the 2019 season. They'll compete with Farmington, Rogers, Rogers Heritage and Gentry, Craig said.

Live competition against other teams will give a good measure of where Siloam Springs is at, and Craig said he wants the Panthers to make the most of the opportunity.

"Number one, I want our kids to show up, get off the bus and be ready to play," he said. "That's something we need to work on, not going out there and feeling everything out. We need to be aggressive off the bus. Defensively, I want us to get lined up right -- 100 percent alignment. I want us to do a great job of knowing our assignment, executing our assignment on defense and then flying to the football. Let's make plays. We're not going to be doing much tackling because it's a pad camp, but making sure we have the proper fit on tacking and running fits.

Offensively it's all about tempo, execution, taking care of the football -- things that we need to execute to be better offensively. We want to be physical on both sides of the ball. We want to show up. We want to be aggressive."