Thrailkill, Panthers win at Van Buren

Van Buren didn't have much luck slowing down Siloam Springs senior Kaiden Thrailkill. And when the Pointers did stop him, the Panthers' defense rose to the occasion. Thrailkill rushed for a career-high 257 yards on 36 carries and two touchdowns, and the Panthers got a pair of stops in the fourth quarter to steal a 35-32 win over the Pointers at Citizens Bank Stadium. "We all worked together to get one thing done, to accomplish our goal, which was to win," said Thrailkill, who credited his offensive line. "It was beautiful lanes to run through." Leading 35-32, the Panthers got an interception from Jackson Norberg in the fourth quarter to snuff out a Van Buren drive and get the ball back to Thrailkill and the offense. On the next play, Thrailkill broke through for a 35-yard run to the 10, however he fumbled on the next play and Van Buren's Cha'Raun Paige recovered and ran it back to the Panthers' 39 with less than four minutes remaining. Van Buren (1-2) got down to the 28, but Siloam Springs' defense came up with a stop to get the ball back with less than two minutes remaining. The Panthers were able to get the clock down to 1:08 left and were ready to punt the ball away when Van Buren was penalized for offsides. The penalty gave the Panthers the first down, and quarterback Landon Ellis took two knees in victory formation to end the game. "Our theme this week was trust," said Siloam Springs coach Brandon Craig. "We knew we were going to have some low points in the game. That's just high school football. They stuck together as a team, and they just kept fighting. It would have been really easy for them to just tuck their tails, take a loss and go home, but they didn't. They kept fighting. That's what we're looking for. That will and desire to keep fighting." The Panthers (2-1) fell behind 14-0 in the first quarter only to come back and lead 21-14 after Thrailkill rushed for 119 yards and two scores in the second quarter alone. The second of those touchdowns was set up by an interception by sophomore Cam Collins. The Panthers also got an 18-yard touchdown reception from Gage Weaver in the first quarter to get on the scoreboard. Van Buren tied the score 21-21 at halftime, but the Panthers came out to start the second half and marched 77 yards in 10 plays -- all rushes -- to take a 28-21 lead. Thrailkill had 52 of those yards on seven carries, and Gustavo Fuentes scored from 2 yards out to take the lead. Van Buren cut the lead to 28-24 on a 33-yard Chris Flores field goal in the third quarter, but Siloam Springs answered with another scoring drive to open the fourth. After a shanked punt, the Panthers took over at the Van Buren 33 and Thrailkill rushed three times for 22 yards. Ellis carried the final 11 for a 35-24 lead with 11:13 left. Ellis rushed for 71 yards on 13 carries to help Thrailkill in the Panthers' running game, which had 52 carries for 332 yards. Van Buren cut it to 35-32 in the fourth when Christian Morrow scored from 1 yard out with 8:39 left. Van Buren outgained the Panthers 410-373. Morrow completed 29 of 50 passes for 287 yards and also caught a pass for 43. "I told them that the No. 1 thing we can take away from this thing is we've got to learn from what we did," said Van Buren coach Casey Dick. "The biggest thing we can't do is come in here and start pointing fingers at each other or do anything else. We've got to come together and get things fixed and get things rolling. These are nonconference games for a reason, to get you ready for obviously your conference games that are coming the next seven weeks."

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THRAILKILL, PANTHERS WIN AT VAN BUREN

GRAHAM THOMAS

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 9/15/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Ben Goff