SILOAM SPRINGS -- Junior quarterback Noah Dotson led Alma up and down the field with his arm on Friday against Siloam Springs.
Senior Alex Beneux finished those drives with his legs.
7A/6A-Central Conference
How They Scored
Alma 41, Siloam Springs 24
Alma^7^14^13^7^—^41
Siloam Springs^0^10^7^7^—^24
First Quarter
Alma — Beneux (Walker kick), 2:04.
Second Quarter
Siloam Springs — FG Umana 28.
Alma — Beneux 5 run (Walker kick), 8:10.
Siloam Springs — Horn 4 pass from Norberg (Umana kick), 4:12.
Alma — Friddle 8 pass from Dotson (Walker kick), 1:32.
Third Quarter
Alma — Beneux 7 run (Walker kick), 8:37.
Siloam Springs — Armstrong 10 pass from Norberg (Umana kick), 5:20.
Alma — Key 22 pass from Dotson (kick failed), 0:49.
Fourth Quarter
Siloam Springs — Norberg 13 run (Umana kick), 9:34.
Alma — Beneux 1 run (Walker kick), 0:22.
Beneux, the Airedales' other option at quarterback, rushed for 100 yards and four touchdowns as Alma defeated the Panthers 41-24 in a 7A/6A-Central Conference game at Panther Stadium.
It was the fourth straight win for the Airedales (4-1, 2-0) and more importantly it was their first of three games against Class 6A competition.
The Airedales caught some breaks early in the game.
On its first offensive possession, Alma was lined up to punt when the snap went over punter Heath Friddle's head deep into Siloam Springs territory. However, Friddle retrieved the ball and avoided a pair of Siloam Springs defenders and got the kick off. On the other end, Panthers senior Coby Roach fumbled the ball and Alma recovered at the Panthers' 48. The Airedales also had a pass get deflected off a helmet for a completion to help keep a drive alive.
"It was kind of a circus there early," said Alma coach Doug Loughridge.
After the Airedales recovered the fumble, Dotson hit a pair of 11 yard passes to Jeremiah Nicholson and Brayden Johnson to the 25. Beneux then ran in from 21 yards out for the game's firs- score with 2:04 left in the first quarter.
The Airedales would never trail after that.
Alma would go up build up a 21-10 lead at halftime and lead by as many as 17 points in the second half.
"After we settled down and settled into the game, our offense was clicking," Loughridge said. "Brigance had some big runs. Beneux came in and we gave them a little change at quarterback. He had a big night. Noah was on throwing it.
"I was proud of the way our kids bounced back. It could have gone south early with those things happening."
Dotson finished 22 of 26 for 196 yards, dinking and dunking his way down the field against the Panthers' defense. Johnson caught 10 passes for 82 yards and Dotson threw touchdown passes to Friddle in the second quarter to go up 21-10 and another to Alex Key in the third to make it 34-17.
Beneux had a touchdown run in every quarter for the Airedales, who finished with 393 yards of offense.
Siloam Springs (3-2, 0-2) had 347 yards of offense but couldn't overcome three turnovers and 10 penalties for 97 yards.
"We made too many mistakes," said Siloam Springs head coach Bryan Ross. "They played a lot cleaner than we did."
Sports on 10/03/2015