Shiloh stomp: Saints' offense, defense rough up Fayetteville in preseason scrimmage

SPRINGDALE — While the scoreboard registered goose eggs for both squads, it wasn't hard to discern the winner.

A squadron clad in purple sat silently as Class 4A Shiloh Christian administered a pummeling of its Class 7A Fayetteville in a preseason scrimmage at Champions Stadium Monday night. The Saints' first teamers stymied Fayetteville's high-octane passing offense, keeping the Purple Dogs starters out of the end zone in a 35-3, first-half rout. The final tally was 42-23 in favor of Shiloh.

Fayetteville kept quarterback Brandon Allen and its first team on the field for the entire half and even sent the starters on offense and defense back out for the third quarter. Shiloh relieved starting signal caller Kiehl Frazier of his duties with 3:53 left in the second quarter. Even Shiloh's back-up quarterback, Wilson Huett, led the Saints on a scoring drive, connecting with Collin Self with 3.3 seconds left in the first half.

"We were a little shell-shocked early and we didn't play with as much intensity as we needed to," Fayetteville coach Daryl Patton said. "... We may not see a better line or offensive unit all year. This was a scrimmage and game planning is a huge part of coaching. I think we could have done a better job but I didn't put that pressureon the coaches and I'll take the blame for that. But you can talk about schemes all you want. We didn't step up and play and when adversity struck, our kids didn't step up and perform. But that's what a scrimmage is for is to see who's going to step up and help you on Friday nights."

Allen completed 22 of 31 passes for 184 yards and one interception, a badly underthrown ball on a sideline route.

"We threw a lot of short stuff because Brandon was under fire," Patton said. "We've got some inexperienced guys at center and guard and they're learning. I don't know if Brandon ever felt comfortable. We did some good things but more times than not Shiloh got pressure and he felt like he needed to make a play."

Shiloh achieved incessant pressure on Allen after it became apparent Fayetteville couldn't muster even a semblance of a running game. The Purple Dog starters logged just 26 rushing yards in the first half and 19 of those came from Allen scrambles.

"Holding Fayetteville's first team out of the end zone in the first half gave us a big lift," Shiloh Christian coach Josh Floyd said. "Fayetteville has so many talented skills guys but our defense did a pretty good job of swarming to the football. We gave Fayetteville the short game and they did a good job of taking advantage of it and nickel and diming us. But the key to limiting that was tackling and our linebackers and secondary guys did a good job of getting to the football."

Meanwhile, Frazier completed 9 of 12 for 91 yards, threw two touchdown passes and no interceptions. Frazier also rushed for 69 yards on four carries, one of which went for a 51-yard scoring scamper.

"He's worked hard in the film room and he continues to show improvements in his understanding of the offense," Floyd said. "I thought he took command of the offense and showed a lot of confidence out there. He was impressive."

Shiloh's offense ran roughshod over Fayetteville's defense in the first half, racking up 254 rushing yards and passing for more than 150 yards. Shiloh tailback Garrett Harper rushed for 121 yards in the first half on only five totes, including a 71-yard touchdown run meandering through heavy traffic and speeding past the Purple Dog secondary to paydirt.

"We didn't tackle well and didn't play well on defense at all," Patton said. "We've got some guys a little banged up and they didn't tackle well. These mistakes are all correctable but it didn't look good. I'm sure that people are going to say we're terrible but they said the same thing in 2007. We just can't let Shiloh continue to beat us tomorrow. We have to use this to get better and prepare for Little Rock Central. This was just a scrimmage and we're still 0-0."