Football: Siloam Springs begins long journey in 6A-West

It's understandable why Siloam Springs wanted out of the 7A-West, where the Panthers were outnumbered and overmatched in football by the largest schools in the state.

Reclassification placed Siloam Springs in the 6A-West Conference, a wide-ranging collection of schools closer to its size. Now comes the hard part -- the travel.

Siloam Springs and Greenwood each face long trips tonight for their second conference games. Siloam Springs plays at Benton, which is south of Little Rock, while Greenwood travels to El Dorado, near the Louisiana border. Both trips are over four hours by bus and there's no easy way to get there.

But that's the price a school like Siloam Springs was willing to pay when it pushed for separation from 7A schools. The Panthers (1-3, 1-0) will at least carry some momentum on their long trip Friday after opening 6A-West Conference play with a 24-21 victory over Sheridan.

Benton (2-2, 0-1) will attempt to regroup at home following a 45-24 loss to Russellville in its conference opener. Benton, which is led by former Lincoln head coach Brad Harris, had three turnovers in the game.

Siloam Springs received a spark last week from senior Luke Lampton, who rushed for 210 yards and scored on runs of 76, 44, and 29 yards. The Panthers will find more success this season after going 4-18-1 in the 7A-West in 2013-2014. But few, if any, outside of Siloam Springs expect the Panthers to beat a Benton team that reached the championship game in 6A two years ago.

RICK'S PICK Benton

Other games involving teams from Northwest Arkansas (selections are capitalized).

CLASS 7A/6A

Van Buren at BENTONVILLE

Bentonville West at FAYETTEVILLE

ROGERS at Rogers Heritage

Springdale at SPRINGDALE HAR-BER

GREENWOOD at El Dorado

CLASS 5A

ALMA at Farmington

Clarksville at HARRISON

CLASS 4A

Gentry at BERRYVILLE

PRAIRIE GROVE at Gravette

SHILOH CHRISTIAN at Huntsville

Lincoln at PEA RIDGE

CLASS 3A

Green Forest at CLINTON

MELBOURNE at Marshall

ELKINS at Mountain View

GREENLAND at Yellville-Summit

CLASS 2A

MAGAZINE at Decatur

LAVACA at Mountainburg

LAST WEEK 14-4 (77 percent)

OVERALL 53-18 (74 percent)

Sports on 09/30/2016

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