WOLVES BLANKED BY SHILOH

SPRINGDALE -- Shiloh Christian scored touchdowns on its first six possessions and rolled to a 40-0 victory over Lincoln on Friday in Champions Stadium.

The Saints (5-2, 4-1 4A-1 Conference) took advantage of short fields on five of their six touchdown drives to build a 40-0 lead before turning the game over to their reserves in the second quarter. The final half was played under a running clock.

Junior running back John Marcus Carruthers made the most of his 10 carries, rushing for a season-high 140 yards and one touchdown, a 35-yard burst in the first quarter. The run was one of five Carruthers had of 10 or more yards.

Shiloh Christian's defense dominated Lincoln (3-5, 2-3) in the first half, limiting the Wolves to 14 total yards.

Saints senior linebacker Jacob Plunkett said the shutout was something the team took a lot of pride in.

"Shiloh's been known for offense for a long time and we've been talking about making the defense known," Plunkett said. "We're trying to hold teams to seven points or less, so a shutout was great."

It took the Saints just six plays to jump out to a 12-0 lead. Quarterback Connor Reece put Shiloh Christian on the scoreboard with 11 minutes, 35 seconds left in the first quarter on an 18-yard keeper, then Reece hit Tion Walker for a touchdown on the Saints' sixth play from scrimmage at the 9:29 mark. Walker made a nice reverse spin move to get away from the Lincoln defender and easily walked into the end zone.

"I think he's one of the guys on the team who are starting to figure it out," Shiloh Christian coach Jeff Conaway said of Walker, who also had a 44-yard punt return to set up a touchdown, and made several nice defensive plays at cornerback.

Shiloh Christian only attempted six passes, completing four for the game. The Saints instead used their run game to set the tone, something Conaway said he was glad to see.

"We felt like it was important to come out and establish the run game," Conaway said. "There's been games were we've done it, and there have been other games where we've struggled. We wanted to come out and really be aggressive on both sides of the ball and I think our guys did it."

Reece scored two rushing touchdowns and hit Jake Nelson on a 54-yard scoring pass to lead the Saints.

The Saints will travel to Gravette next week in a key 4A-1 match against the Lions, then close the season at home against Pea Ridge. Lincoln, who lost quarterback Harrison Swayne to an injury in the first half, travels to Gentry in a game with possible playoff implications. Swayne was injured on a running play, but stayed on the sideline for the remainder of the game.