Thrailkill sparks Panthers to win

SHERIDAN — Kaiden Thrailkill put his teammates on his back in the fourth quarter and led Siloam Springs to a 6A-West Conference road victory.

Thrailkill, a junior running back, accounted for 58 of the Panthers’ 65 yards on a game-winning drive, and Luke Gumm caught a seven-yard touchdown pass from Landon Ellis with 13.3 seconds left as Siloam Springs escaped Sheridan with a 31-24 victory at Yellowjacket Stadium.

“Kaiden just willed it to happen,” said Siloam Springs coach Bryan Ross. “We were making some blocks up front, but he ran like a man possessed. That’s why he’s a great football player because his heart’s as big as his body.”

With the game tied 24-24 after Sheridan’s Brayden Veuleman kicked a 23-yard field goal, Siloam Springs (2-2, 1-0 6A-West) took over at its 35-yard line with 2 minutesm 43 seconds remaining.

A fired-up Thrailkill ripped off a 20-yard run into Yellowjackets territory and then carried for five yards down to the 40.

Ellis found Thrailkill for 23-yard screen pass down to the 17, and Thrailkill then gained back-to-back 5-yard runs down to the 7 with the clocking ticking. Ellis spiked the ball with 17.7 seconds left, and on the next play he found Gumm on an out route for the game-winner.

“I just knew that we had to get down the field so that we could get in range for a touchdown,” said Thrailkill, who finished with 149 yards on 20 carries. “I mean, the reason I was going wild on the sideline was because you can’t play without a fire. You’ve got to have that fire. You’ve got to have that spark for your team to want to win.”

After the ensuing kickoff, Sheridan still had 8.5 seconds to work with, and the Yellowjackets (0-4, 0-1) executed a hook-and-ladder from Brayden Sites to Jason May, who pitched back to Jackson Coleman, who ran down to the 30 with 0.2 seconds left.

The Yellowjackets had one last play, but a pass into the end zone was just out of reach from the outstretched arms of May.

“It doesn’t feel good to lose, but we can’t hang our heads about that,” said first-year Sheridan coach Lance Parker. “They played their butts off. We’re out there. Have a shot at the end in somebody’s hands to win it. If you would have told me in the middle of the week that’s what it was going to come down to I would have taken it. I thought they did a great job.”

Siloam Springs led 10-0 early after Ellis threw a 65-yard touchdown pass to Primo Agbehi and Gumm kicked a field goal in the second quarter.

Sheridan cut the lead to 10-7 at halftime on a 44-yard strike from Sites to Coleman.

The Panthers webt back up 17-7 in the third quarter on a 21-yard pass from Ellis to Gumm, but Sheridan scored two straight touchdowns to take a 21-17 lead in the fourth quarter.

Siloam Springs hit a 50-yard touchdown pass to Gumm with 7:40 left as the Panthers took a 24-21 lead. Gumm caught six passes for 84 yards and three touchdowns all in the second half.

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