Early Jitters Costly For Saints
NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — ARLINGTON, Texas — Shiloh Christian was admittedly awed by the spectacle of playing Euless (Texas) Trinity on Monday.
The combination of facing the nation’s top-ranked team, playing in the $1.5 billion Cowboys Stadium and in front of a crowd of 20,000 had a definite effect on the Saints early on, coach Josh Floyd said.
All that conspired to put the Saints in an early 14-0 hole they were never able to completely escape in an eventual 80-26 loss.
“I think some of it was jitters, obviously,” Floyd said. “They’re obviously a big-time team and program and the environment was pretty crazy, so I think that was part of it.”
Shiloh managed just five rushing yards in the first quarter and 71 passing — 69 of which came on one play. Although Garrett Harper’s 93-yard kickoff return trimmed the margin to 14-7, Trinity effectively put the Saints back in a 14-point hole one play later on a 60-yard touchdown run.
“I think we settled down finally toward the end of the first quarter, but it was too late,” Floyd said.
The Saints will take a lengthy break before their next game on Sept. 17 at home against Greenwood in a game that will be televised by ESPNU. Then Shiloh moves into 4A-1 Conference play the following week.
- CHIP SOUZA
Gentry Regains Momentum In Win
GENTRY — A stout Gentry defense held Colcord, Okla., without a first down until severe weather forced the game to be suspended with 4 minutes, 33 seconds left in the first half Thursday night.
The Pioneers, who notched the 12-6 win, held a 6-0 lead before the stoppage in play.
“We felt like we had the momentum Thursday,” Gentry coach Brian Little said. “It was a little unique. It’s only the second time we’ve had to do that in my coaching career. It was unusual, but it happens sometimes.”
Colcord intercepted an Austin Milsap screen pass just before play was halted. “We gave them a little hope there before, but we held them out of the end zone,” Little said.
Little was pleased with the Pioneers’ offense, which rolled up nearly 350 yards of total offense, but the negative was Gentry scored just 12 points.
Milsap threw a pair of touchdown passes to tight end Kevin Scherer and receiver Justin Stewart. The short strike to Scherer was set up by a 60-yard pass from Milsap to Tanner Morgan.
But turnovers and penalties hurt the Pioneers.
“Penalties kept us stymied as we got closer,” Little said. “We put one on the ground and threw a pick. If we can eliminate those things, we’ll be OK. Those things are correctable.”
— PAUL BOYD
Injury Leaves Gravette With Voids On Defense
GRAVETTE — Gravette coach Bill Harrelson is using this week’s practice sessions to find a couple of replacements on defense.
The Lions will be without starting nose tackle Kahlief Steele and linebacker Adam Roberts for Friday’s game against McDonald County, Mo. Steele suffered a concussion during the second quarter of Gravette’s season opener against Jay, Okla., while Roberts is out for an indefinite amount of time because of a knee injury.
“I’m pretty certain Khalief will be out,” Harrelson said. “We’re waiting until the trainer tells us he’s sympton-free before he can play again.
“We’re not sure about the extent of Adam’s knee right now. We’re still waiting on the MRI results.”
Who will take over those positions will depend on who earns the spot in practice, Harrelson said.
“That’s what we’re going to work on this week,” he said. “We’re looking for somebody who can step up, do the job and show us they want to play.
“Anybody on the team will have several opportunities to make that happen. We’re hoping somebody will do just that.”
— HENRY APPLE
Penalties Hamper West Fork
WEST FORK — West Fork had plenty of things go wrong Friday night, but the most frustrating was committing 13 penalties.
Despite being able to move the ball on offense, the Tigers (0-1) lost valuable yardage with costly penalties that kept them from getting into the end zone in a 6-3 season-opening loss against Magazine.
“We just didn’t play well enough on offense, and it’s always going to be hard to win a game with so many penalties,” West Fork coach Rodney Selph said. “We’ve got to be able to score when we’re in the red zone.”
Selph said his players were heavily disappointed after the game, simply because they realize their potential to be successful this season with 23 seniors and 16 returning starters.
Despite the loss, Selph said the Tigers had a beneficial 2 1/2 hour practice Monday, during which they worked on fixing various problems on both offense and defense.
“No loss is ever a good loss, but we can certainly learn from the mistakes we made (against Magazine),” said Selph, whose team plays at Farmington on Friday.
“It was the first game of the season, and it’s not going to ruin our season. We can bounce back if we get focused and play much better than that.”
— NATHAN ALLEN