EL DORADO -- El Dorado took advantage of three first-half turnovers by Siloam Springs and enjoyed several big plays on its way to a 54-33 victory in the opening round of the Class 6A playoffs at Memorial Stadium.
The Wildcats, the No. 3 seed out of the 6A-East, finished with 574 yards of offense and advance to the quarterfinals at Lake Hamilton next Friday.
"Offensively we were able to do some good things tonight," El Dorado Coach Steven Jones said. "We were able to spread the ball around to some playmakers. We feel good about that moving forward."
Siloam Springs took the opening kickoff and drove down the field before settling for a 28-yard field goal by Ronald Mancia for a 3-0 lead.
It was all Wildcats after that.
Jackie Washington scored on a 69-yard reverse on El Dorado's first play to go up 7-3.
On Siloam Springs' next possession, Mario Ganter intercepted Hunter Talley to give the ball back for El Dorado. Eli Shepherd then ran for a 42-yard touchdown to go up 13-3.
After Siloam Springs lost a fumble, the Wildcats made it 20-3 on a 56-yard pass from Sharmon Rester to R.J. Thomas for a 20-3 lead.
Shepherd threw a 9-yard touchdown to Kamron Bibby to open the second quarter, then El Dorado pulled ahead 34-3 with an 18-yard touchdown from Rester to James Hartfield.
Siloam Springs cut the lead to 34-17 with back-to-back touchdowns in the second quarter on a pair of rushing touchdowns from Jeff Phizema.
El Dorado answered with two more scores before halftime to lead 47-17.
"We did a great job [early]. We took the ball, went down and got points on the board," Siloam Springs Coach Brandon Craig said. "That's what we were after. We had guys we thought were in a good position and just didn't make the tackle. And then after that, we turned the ball over three times in the first half and missed a bunch of tackles.
"You just can't do that against good teams, and these guys are definitely a talented bunch. When you miss tackles and turn the ball over in playoff games, you're going to lose."
Rester hit Bibby on a 78-yard score. Rester later hit on a 74-yard touchdown pass to Washington to make it 54-17.
Siloam Springs scored a pair of touchdowns in the second half -- both on runs by Talley.
Rester went most of the way at quarterback with Shepherd nursing a hurt shoulder, and he completed 6 of 9 passes for 250 yards. Sheperd went 6 of 8 for 80 yards and rushed for 88 yards.
Thomas led El Dorado with 136 yards on five receptions.
Siloam Springs had 364 yards of offense. Phizema had 15 carries for 101 yards, while Talley rushed for 86 on 14 carries.
Talley completed 7 of 20 passes for 139 yards. Gavin Henson caught four passes for 117 yards.
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El Dorado 54, Siloam Springs 33
Siloam Springs^3^14^8^8^—^33
El Dorado^20^27^7^0^—^54
First Quarter
Siloam — FG Mancia 28, 9:24.
El Do — Washington 69 run (Carruth kick), 9:03.
El Do — Sheperd 42 run (kick failed), 7:36.
El Do — Thomas 54 pass from Rester (Carruth kick), 3:07.
Second Quarter
El Do — Bibby 9 pass from Sheperd (Carruth kick), 9:03.
El Do — Hartsfield 18 pass from Rester (Carruth kick), 8:29.
Siloam — Phizema 8 run (Mancia kick), 7:04.
Siloam — Phizema 7 run (Mancia kick), 5:03.
El D0 — Bibby 78 pass from Rester (Caruth kick), 3:36.
El Do — Hartsfield 8 fumble recovery (kick failed), 3:04.
Third Quarter
El D0 — Washington 76 pass from Rester (Sanchez kick), 8:52.
Siloam — Talley 5 run (Phizema run), 5:02.
Fourth Quarter
Siloam — Talley 1 run (Talley run), 8:59.