PEARCY -- Siloam Springs geared up to stop Lake Hamilton's vaunted running attack, and the Panthers did just that, holding the Wolves to just 55 rushing yards on 23 carries.
But the Wolves had another trick up their sleeve as quarterback Easton Hurley threw for 305 yards and six touchdowns as Lake Hamilton rolled to a 41-7 victory Friday, Sept. 23, at Wolf Stadium.
"With Easton, he gives us an opportunity to throw the ball more," said Lake Hamilton coach Tommy Gilleran. "He's got a lot of poise back in the pocket, but also he throws good footballs as you can see. We gave our kids some opportunities to make plays with the football, and then our offensive line did a good job of picking up stunts and just picking up whatever they're doing up front in the different pass plays."
The Wolves (5-0, 3-0 6A-West Conference) did a lot of their damage on fourth-and-long in the first quarter.
Hurley threw a 39-yard touchdown to Justin Crutchmer on fourth-and-five for Lake Hamilton's first score with 7 minutes, 51 seconds left in the first quarter.
He went on to throw a 44-yard scoring strike to David Felan for a 14-0 lead. Then later in the first quarter, on fourth-and-15 from the 27, Hurley found Crutchmer again for a 27-yard TD pass for a 20-0 lead.
Hurley also hit Kendrick Martin on a screen pass on fourth-and-16 at the 31-yard line for another long touchdown.
He would throw two more touchdown passes of 82 and 22 yards to Crutchmer, who finished with five catches for 195 yards and four touchdowns.
"He's a great football player," Gilleran said of Crutchmer. "We probably go where he goes. As long as he stays healthy, he gives us an opportunity to win games on Fridays."
Lake Hamilton led 41-0 at halftime and the entire second half was played with a running clock via the Sportsmanship Rule.
"Statistically, if you look at their breakdown, they're 75 percent run and that's what we had to sell out stopping," said Siloam Springs coach Brandon Craig. "Obviously, we've given up a lot of big plays this year in both the run and pass, but I thought we played really physical football against a very physical football team and matched their physicality and played tough and stopped the run. We got in a one-on-one matchup with (Crutchmer) and you're going to get in those. He's an outstanding player. We had young ugys playing, and I can't keep playing that song, but they're doing the best they can."
The Panthers' lone touchdown came on the first offensive play of the second half.
Panthers' defensive lineman Christian Mendez forced a fumble, which sophomore Mikey McKinley scooped up and ran back 30 yards for a touchdown.
"Mikey did a good job of playing technique then reacting to the fumble then let his athletic ability take over by scooping and scoring from 30 yards out," Craig said.
It turned out to be a tough night on the injury front for Siloam Springs, which finished the game with its third-string quarterback because of injuries sustained to the first two.
Panthers starting quarterback, sophomore Jackson Still, went out with an injury on Siloam Springs' second possession in the first quarter.
Senior Nick Driscoll replaced Still at quarterback and played for most of the first half, but Driscoll was injured while playing on the defensive side of the ball.
"We held (Driscoll) out the rest of the night when the score was so out of whack," Craig said.
Sophomore Dane Marlatt replaced Driscoll late in the second quarter and played the entire second half.
"Dane Marlatt, our third quarterback, came in and did an outsanding job on short notice," Craig said. "He hasn't got a lot of reps with the varsity but did a great job. We're really excited about what he did."
Still should be back this week, Craig said.
Starting running back Jed Derwin also left the game with an injury, but Craig said he should be OK.
"I think he's OK," Craig said. "Jed just plays really physical, so he has a tendency to get beat up in these games, but he'll be back."
With both teams' junior varsity squads playing most of the fourth quarter, Siloam Springs had some offensive highlights from junior running back Silas Tugwell, who rushed seven times for 80 yards, including a pair of runs for 34 and 24 yards.
"It was good to see him come in and make a few big runs at the end of the game," Craig said of Tugwell.
Overall, Siloam Springs (0-5, 0-3) was limited to just 171 yards of offense.
Derwin rushed 20 times for 38 yards as the Panthers ran 37 times for 132 yards.
Driscoll completed 2 of 5 passes for 33 yards, both to Gio Flores.
Marlatt completed 1 of 2 passes for six yards to Noah Shipp.
Defensively, Stone Stephens had five solo tackles and two assisted tackles, while George LeRoy had two solo tackles and four assisted tackles and 1 1/2 tackles for loss. Justin Burton had a fumble recovery, two solo tackles, four assisted tackles and a half tackle for loss.
Siloam Springs is back at home this Friday, Sept. 30, for homecoming against Russellville. The Cyclones (1-3, 1-2) defeated Mountain Home last week 38-28 for their first win of the season.
Lance Porter/The Sentinel-Record Siloam Springs prepares to snap the ball against Lake Hamilton on Friday, Sept. 23, 2022, at Wolf Stadium. Lake Hamilton defeated Siloam Springs 41-7.