SILOAM SPRINGS -- Lake Hamilton lost its starting tailback, sophomore, Malik Brewer, to an ankle injury in the first quarter against Siloam Springs, but senior Jacob Nichols more than picked up the slack.
Nichols ran for 218 yards and scored two touchdowns as the Wolves picked up an important 6A-West Conference victory and snapped a four-game losing streak with a 34-27 win at Panther Stadium.
Lake Hamilton 34, Siloam Springs 27
Lake Hamilton^7^10^14^3^—^34
Siloam Springs^7^3^10^7^—^27
First Quarter
LH — R. Nichols 2 run (Johnson kick), 8:46.
Siloam — Thrailkill 7 pass from Ellis (Perez kick), 3:49.
Second Quarter
LH — J. Nichols 10 run (Johnson kick), 6:53.
LH — FG Johnson 26, 3:38.
Siloam — FG Perez 26, 0:00.
Third Quarter
Siloam — FG Perez 37, 9:50.
LH — R. Nichols 6 run (Johnson kick), 7:57.
Siloam — Sorrells 60 pass from Ellis (Perez kick), 7:06.
LH — J. Nichols 3 run (Johnson kick), 6:06.
Fourth Quarter
LH — FG Johnson 26, 11:55.
Siloam — Thrailkill 8 run (Perez kick), 3:40.
Randall Nichols added a pair of touchdowns and Jack Johnson kicked a pair of field goals for Lake Hamilton (3-4, 1-3), which moved back into the thick of the conference race with its first league win.
Jacob Nichols led the way for the Wolves. He rushed for more than 100 yards in each half and turned what looked like short gains into sizeable runs all night. His first touchdown with 6 minutes, 53 seconds left in the second quarter put the Wolves up for good at 14-7, and his second score made it 31-20 in the third quarter.
"He's a great football player," Lake Hamilton coach Tommy Gilleran said of Jacob Nichols. "He plays defense, offense and everything else. So because of that, he gives us a chance to be a great football team. Breaking tackles, breaking through the line, he's just an awesome football player."
Lake Hamilton rode the legs of Brewer early as he rushed for 53 yards on 10 carries in the first quarter, and the Wolves took an early 7-0 lead on Randall Nichols' first touchdown with 8:46 left in the first quarter.
The Panthers (2-5, 1-3) answered that score to tie the game 7-7 on a Kaiden Thrailkill screen pass from Landon Ellis, but Lake Hamilton scored the next 10 points to go up 17-7. Siloam Springs got a field goal from Jorge Perez right before halftime to make it 17-10, and Perez kicked another field goal to open the second half to make it 17-13.
Lake Hamilton responded with a touchdown to go up 24-13. Jacob Nichols rushed three times for 38 yards and Utah Aitken hit a 23-yard pass to Johnson. Randall Nichols then scored from six-yards out to make it 24-13.
Siloam Springs hit a 60-yard pass on a fake reverse to Marquan Sorrells to cut the lead to 24-20, but Lake Hamilton came right back and scored again. Jacob Nichols ran for 29 yards and then dove for 3 more for a score and a 31-20 lead.
Johnson kicked his second field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter to go up 34-20.
Siloam Springs scored with 3:40 left on a 8-yard run by Thrailkill to cut it 34-27. The Panthers got the ball back and drove into Lake Hamilton territory with just more than a minute remaining before turning the ball over on downs.
"Pretty disappointing," said Siloam Springs coach Bryan Ross. "It was a night where we needed to play our best, and we were far from it. We didn't deserve to win. That's the bottom line. They outplayed us, and they got the victory and they deserved it."
Sports on 10/14/2017