Siloam Springs to host 7-on-7 tournament

SILOAM SPRINGS -- Hosting a 7-on-7 tournament is something Brandon Craig envisioned for the Siloam Springs football program when he first became head coach in the spring of 2018.

Three years later, the vision has become reality as the Panthers will host the inaugural Stateline Shootout today at Panther Stadium and the adjacent fields at Sager Creek Soccer Complex.

"When I first got here, this is something I had a vision of," Craig said. "We're in a perfect location. We sit right on the (Arkansas-Oklahoma) border. We can get plenty of Oklahoma teams. We can get plenty of Arkansas teams, and there's been some other tournaments in the area that are two-day, they cost a lot of money when you take your kids with hotels and meals. We're providing lunch. It's an easy drive for all these schools to our school. It's a one day tournament, so they don't have to get hotels. I think overall it was in my mind, we can put this on, we can have a great competition here, we can showcase our school, we can showcase our facilities and we can showcase our town."

Sixteen teams, including host Siloam Springs, are participating in the tournament, which will begin at 9 a.m. this morning with pool play and six games for each team. The teams will break for lunch and then a single-elimination championship bracket will start at 2:30 p.m.

"From a football aspect of it, we want Siloam to be thought of as a football town," Craig said. "We're not there yet. We're working in that direction. This is one of those components that can help us get to that long term. It took three years to get here because you have to have so many people that support you, and you can't just do (a 7-on-7 tournament) on a whim and it turns out bad and nobody wants to come back. We're trying to make this an event that occurs every year, that everybody wants to be a part of, that's special to the kids and special to the coaches and they want to come back and do it again."

Teams from Arkansas include Siloam Springs, Gravette, Rogers High, Rogers Heritage, Bentonville West, Van Buren, Springdale, Harrison, Pea Ridge and Farmington.

Oklahoma teams are Craig's former school Oologah, Pryor, Collinsville, Muskogee, Sapulpa and Kansas.

Craig said it will be a very competitive field.

"To start with my old school is coming," Craig said. "We've got Oologah coming. They've always been really competitive and been in a great place. It's going to be exciting to see those guys again."

Craig said Collinsville was a rival when he was at Oologah and they'll be competitive. Muskogee competes in Oklahoma's largest classification and they'll have good athletes, he said.

The Panthers are familiar with Pryor, having played the Tigers in the 2018 and 2019 seasons, both Siloam Springs victories. Kansas was a late entry after new coach Warren Kirk took the Comets' job, Craig said.

Van Buren competes in the 6A-West with Siloam Springs, and Harrison also has been a mainstay on football schedule as a nonconference opponent since 2014.

Farmington, Springdale, Rogers High and Sapulpa all have new head coaches.

"It will be exciting to see all these teams, all these new head coaches, and you know it's just going to be fun," Craig said. "It'll be highly competitive, and we know at the end of the day it's just 7 on 7 and we're trying to get better."