Siloam Springs’ Rally Falls Just Short

— Siloam Springs nearly pulled out a miracle Friday night in the Class 6A playoffs.

Down 28-0 at halftime, the Panthers roared back in the second half and pulled back to within 49-48 on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Austin Van Poucke to Chandler Gregory with no time left on the clock.

Gamebreaker

SEARCY 49, SILOAM SPRINGS 48

Why the Lions won

Searcy turned three first half turnovers into 21 points and a 28-0 lead. After Siloam Springs stormed back to within 49-48 with no time remaining, the Lions got one stop on the final play of the game — a two-point conversion.

Why the Panthers lost

The Panthers fell behind 28-0 in the first half and their valiant comeback effort came up one point short in the second half when they missed a two-point conversion.

That was all the miracles the Panthers had left in them. Going for the victory on the road, Van Poucke’s two-point conversion pass attempt to Gregory sailed over the junior receiver’s outstretched arms, and the Lions held on for a 49-48 victory.

“I really don’t have the words to describe it,” said Siloam Springs coach Bryan Ross. “I felt pretty sure about the extra point, and if you kick the extra point you go to overtime. We felt like we had the momentum there. That was actually a play we put in (Thursday). We felt like it was going to be there. They did a good job of defending it. They made the good play when they had to.”

Three Siloam Springs turnoves led to 21 Lions points in the first half and a 28-0 lead overall.

Searcy was set to receive the opening kickoff of the second half and one score away from hanging the mercy rule on the Panthers. Siloam Springs recovered an onside kick to open the second half, however, and four plays later Van Poucke scored to make it 28-7.

Siloam Springs recovered a second onside kick and again the Panthers scored, this time on a 17-yard pass from Van Poucke to Gregory to make it 28-14.

The two teams traded scored until the start of the fourth quarter when Searcy went up 49-28 on an 11-yard run by Anthony Arnold.

The Panthers answered with a 29-yard strike to Gregory to make it 49-35. Siloam Springs’ defense got a stop on and the Panthers converted again for a 49-42 score.

Siloam Springs’ sixth onside kick of the night failed, however Oscar Alaniz intercepted Searcy’s Cam Woodruff on fourth-and-10 — the Panthers’ first interception of the season as a team, with just more than two minutes remaining to give the team life.

Siloam Springs drove down to the 20-yard line with five seconds left and Van Poucke threw up a pass which Gregory swooped into the end zone to grab to make it 49-48 with no time left.

“You’ve got to take your hat off to those guys,” said Searcy coach Tim Harper. “Honestly, we’re up 28-0 at the half, and I wrote on the board 27-7 and they came back and took the lead. Dadgummit if the almost didn’t do the same thing this week. ... The second half they played lights out.”

The Panthers totaled a season-high 614 yards of offense, including 312 in the air and 302 on the ground. Van Poucke went 23 of 43 for 312 yards and three touchdowns. One of his two interceptions was returned for a Searcy touchdown by Darius Bowman to open the game. Van Poucke also rushed for 158 yards and two scores

Scout Alexander rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns, including a 69-yard TD run in the third quarter. Gregory caught eight passes for 142 yards.

Upcoming Events