SILOAM SPRINGS -- El Dorado's defense didn't have a lot of success stopping Siloam Springs senior running back Kaiden Thrailkill, but the Wildcats stopped him and the Panthers when they needed it most.
El Dorado junior defensive end Quentin Frazier stopped Thrailkill for a 4-yard loss on fourth down with 1 minute, 13 seconds left to help the Wildcats hold on for a 24-21 victory at Panther Stadium on Friday night.
El Dorado 24, Siloam Springs 21
El Dorado 7 14 0 3 — 24
Siloam Springs 0 7 7 7 — 21
First Quarter
El Do — Tollette 27 pass from Hicks (Hubbard kick), 10:58.
Second Quarter
El Do — Boone 37 pass from Hicks (Hubbard kick), 10:07.
Siloam — Ellis 4 run (Westbrook kick), 5:21.
El Do — Hicks 1 run (Hubbard kick), 4:57.
Third Quarter
Siloam — Thrailkill 8 run (Westbrook kick), 8:40.
Fourth Quarter
El Do — FG Hubbard, 21, 9:25.
Siloam — Thrailkill 44 run (Westbrook kick), 6:50.
The Panthers were facing a fourth-and-2 at their own 25 and called Thrailkill's number for the 40th time.
Siloam Springs lined up in its heavy package, and Frazier blew up the play.
"Number 48 [Frazier] is an outstanding player," said Siloam Springs coach Brandon Craig. "The thought process was if we ran right at him and blocked down on him we would have a chance to make it and it didn't work out."
It proved to be a difficult loss for Siloam Springs (4-4, 2-3), which trailed 21-7 at halftime but outscored El Dorado 14-3 in the second half.
"The second-half team didn't play anything like the first-half team," Craig said. "If we'd played 48 minutes I felt like we would have had a chance to win the game. ... For us as a football program, it's about us learning how to play a full football game. We're still in a stage where we're learning that, and I think our kids are playing with outstanding toughness and effort, and I think they're going to get there."
El Dorado (4-4, 3-2) took advantage of big plays to score its three first-half touchdowns. Wildcats quarterback Alex Hicks threw a 50-yard pass to Shun Livingston the Wildcats' third offensive play and then hit Steven Tollette for a 27-yard touchdown for a 7-0 lead.
Hicks threw a 37-yard touchdown to Alex Boone for a 14-0 lead. Siloam Springs answered with four-yard score by Landon Ellis to cut it to 14-7.
After Tollette ran for 37 yards to the 1, Hicks ran in for a 1-yard score for a 21-7 halftime lead.
Thrailkill, who finished with 238 rushing yards on 40 carries, exploded for 184 yards in the second half and two scores, but he had a costly fumble that snuffed out a potential game-tying scoring drive.
After El Dorado kicked a 21-yard field goal to go up 24-14, Thrailkill responded with a 44-yard touchdown run to make it 24-21.
Siloam Springs got the ball back and was driving in El Dorado territory and hit a 30-yard pass to Gage Weaver, but the play was brought back 15 yards because of a sideline warning. Four plays later, El Dorado made the stop on Thrailkill to win the game.
"We could never get away from them," said El Dorado coach Scott Reed. "That's a sign of a team that's gotten much better. They're much better. You can tell they believe. I knew it was going to be this way after they beat Lake Hamilton."
Hicks finished with 15 carries for 133 yards and completed four passes for 121 yards for El Dorado.
Sports on 10/20/2018