FAYETTEVILLE -- The Siloam Springs boys soccer team went a stretch this season where it struggled to score goals -- 11 straight games where it had two or less.
Finishing wasn't a problem on Friday for the Panthers in the Class 6A state championship.
Sophomore Eli Jackson put on a show for Siloam Springs, finishing with a hat trick and the Panthers added another goal in a 4-0 victory to spoil Mountain Home's undefeated season at Razorback Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
It's the second straight Class 6A state championship for Siloam Springs (21-5-1) and fourth overall with titles in Class 5A in 2011 and 2012. The Panthers also set a single-season program record with 21 wins.
"It's hard to describe the feeling," said senior midfielder Austin Shull, who assisted on the Panthers' third goal. "It's kind of like Christmas morning when you wake up, you know, you're so excited? We all were so excited for this game. We knew that Mountain Home was going to play aggressive. We knew they were going to play hard. We just knew we need to play our game and just play how we always play, which is quick. It ended up working for us."
Mountain Home (18-1), known for its hunker-down defensively style of play, actually got the game's first shot by midfielder Xaco Baonza in the game's 14th minute, but Panthers goalkeeper Wyatt Church was there for the save.
Jackson got the Panthers on the board in the 21st minute on a play that he didn't give up. Christian Marroquin played the ball down the right flank and Francisco Sifuentes played it in the box. Sifuentes crossed to his left and found Jackson, who fired. The shot deflected off of Mountain Home keeper Spencer Foster, but Jackson stayed with the play for the game's first goal with 19 minutes, 49 seconds left.
Church made a couple of more saves in the first half to keep Siloam Springs ahead 1-0 at halftime.
The Panthers pulled ahead 2-0 less than three minutes in the second half on a penalty kick from Marroquin.
Sifuentes was fouled just inside the 18-yard box by Mountain Home's Mikey McLean. The Panthers were awarded the penalty kick, which Marroquin banged home in the lower right corner for a 2-0 lead with 37:18 remaining.
Less than a minute later, Jackson picked up his second goal.
Shull served up a free kick from in front of the Panthers' bench and found Jackson's head with 36:24 remaining and a 3-0 Siloam Springs lead.
Jackson scored his final goal with 26:12 remaining when Marroquin served the ball into the box and Jackson streaked in front of Foster and flicked the ball over him for his third goal of the game.
"It was just a great ball, and I was able to get something on it and put it past the keeper," said Jackson, who was named Most Valuable Player.
"That's just a great touch," said Siloam Springs head coach Brent Crenshaw. "And he probably knew he was going to get killed by that goalkeeper, who was huge. You sacrifice your body. That's what you have to do sometimes."
It was a tough loss for Mountain Home to swallow after winning 18 straight games heading into Friday's championship. The Bombers rallied from a 2-0 deficit to knock off Little Rock Hall in the 6A-East Conference finals before beating El Dorado and upsetting Russellville in the 6A state tournament.
"We've caught breaks all season," said Mountain Home head coach Bryan Mattox. "We didn't catch them today. You can't complain about that. I told the kids if your season is not enough without a state championship, it was not going to be enough with it."
Sports on 05/20/2017