GREENBRIER -- Miles Miller's big night helped Greenbrier get off to a strong start in 6A-West Conference play Friday night.
Miller, a junior wide receiver and defensive back, caught two touchdown passes, returned a kickoff for a touchdown and intercepted two passes as Greenbrier defeated Siloam Springs 48-18 at Don Jones Stadium/John Hawks Memorial Field in Greenbrier.
Miller intercepted Siloam Springs quarterback Jackson Still on the game's first offensive possession and caught a 18-yard touchdown pass from Kane Griffin later in the first quarter as Greenbrier went up 14-0.
Miller caught another touchdown pass in the second quarter as Greenbrier went up 28-3 at halftime.
Then to start the second half, Miller returned the opening kickoff 73 yards for a touchdown. He added his second interception in the third quarter.
"He's a ball playing little dude, but that's the best one ever for him in high school anyways," Greenbrier coach Randy Tribble said of Miller. "He's just a real solid football player that's got awesome savvy, doesn't say much and just makes plays and makes plays."
Greenbrier (2-1, 1-0) finished with 366 yards of offense, most of which came in the first three quarters. Greenbrier went up 48-10 early in the fourth quarter on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Griffin to Carter McElhaney to enforce the sportsmanship rule running clock.
Griffin completed 13 of 22 passes for 228 yards with McElhaney leading all recivers with five catches for 98 yards. Miller finished with five receptions for 70 yards, while Israel Guzman had three catches for 64 yards.
Greenbrier rushed for 129 yards on 35 carries led by Parker Roberts who rushed 10 times for 48 yards and scored the game's first touchdown with a nine-yard run with 7:15 left in the first quarter, cashing in Miller's opening interception.
Matthew Garrett added 11 rushes for 42 yards and a touchdown run in the third quarter.
"We're getting better," Tribble said. "I knew we would get better as the year went. We're making steps. We can still get a lot better and we've got a long way to go to be a really good football team, but I think we're moving in the right direction right now."
Siloam Springs, meanwhile, dropped to 0-3 overall and 0-1 in conference play.
Siloam Springs gave up two first quarter touchdowns and trailed 14-0. It's the third straight game Siloam Springs has gotten into a double-digit hole.
"Well it's game speed," said Siloam Springs coach Brandon Craig. "That's one problem we have at Siloam. We can't simulate that in practice, so we have to catch up in the first quarter, and it just doesn't work out. When you're behind as far as we got tonight, all you can hope to do is come out and compete and win the second half. We got close but we didn't, so it's just one of those things. We have to do a better job individually each day."
Siloam Springs got its offense going late in the first quarter as Still hit Cameron Stafford for a 55-yard gain into Greenbrier territory. That play led to Siloam Springs getting on the scoreboard with 11:47 left in the second quarter on a 33-yard field goal by Ronald Mancia to make it 14-3.
After Miller's touchdown on the kickoff return, Siloam Springs answered back with a 53-yard scoring drive, punching in a 10-yard touchdown run by Gio Flores.
After a shanked Greenbrier punt in the fourth quarter, Siloam Springs scored again to make it 48-18 with a two-yard touchdown run by Jed Derwin.
Siloam Springs finished with 225 yards of offense.
Still completed 10 of 22 passes for 118 yards with two interceptions. He also led the Panthers in rushing with 11 carries for 48 yards.
Derwin rushed for 30 yards on 11 carries as Siloam Springs had 107 rushing yards on 29 carries as a team.
Siloam Springs also had 11 penalities for 74 yards and had several more penalties that were declined.
"I think we had nine penalties in the first half," Craig said. "We made a bunch of critical errors that just got us behind the eight-ball to begin with."
"We're in our fourth varsity experience with these guys, and there's really not any excuses that I can make other than we've just got to come out and play better, more solid football, and every guy's got to buy into that or we're going to keep getting this result."
Siloam Springs is back in action at home Friday, Sept. 16, against Greenwood (2-1, 1-0), which defeated Mountain Home 49-0 in Greenwood last Friday.
Greenwood lost its season opener at Stillwater (Okla.) 41-27 on Aug. 26.
The Bulldogs trailed by 18 late in their second game against Fort Smith Northside, but freshman quarterback Kane Archer, who came in for injured Hunter Houston, rallied the Bulldogs to a 56-53 win on a Hail Mary touchdown pass on the final play of the game.
Houston returned last week to complete 21 of 29 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns against the Bombers, while Archer, who already has several scholarship offers, including Texas A&M and Arkansas, completed 7 of 16 passes for 72 yards and a passing and rushing touchdown.