BETHANY — The Bronchos’ first game against an out-of-state opponent in school history went sideways from the moment Shiloh Christian senior Zane Sluyter took the opening kickoff sideways towards the visitors’ bench for a score.

Not much else went right for Bethany in a 72-0 loss to the Saints, an Arkansas 6A power, on Friday (Sept. 19) at SNU Football Stadium.

“They obviously check all the boxes for a good football team,” Bethany coach Jon Arthur said. “Probably the best team we’ve played here in my 19 years, just the most complete team.”

By the time Sluyter sprinted 91 yards for the touchdown, 14 seconds had elapsed from the game clock. The Saints even converted a two-point conversion to lead 8-0.

On the ensuing possession, the Bronchos drove to near midfield but couldn’t convert on fourth down as senior Seth Greiner fell a yard short.

That gave a Shiloh a short field and It took one play for the Saints to score.

Junior Cole Creighton connected with senior Chandler Kemp on the far sideline for a 46-yard score to make it 15-0.

Bethany showed some life on the next possession. Junior quarterback Brody McLaren rolled out away from pressure and found Greiner, who split two defenders at the Bethany 30-yard line and sprinted to the Shiloh 36-yard line.

From there, the drive moved forward, albeit with difficulty due to three penalties and a sack of McLaren.

After the sack, McLaren connected with Greiner again for a 12 yards to the Shiloh 29.

Greiner caught another pass and took it just outside the 10-yard line but an offensive pass interference and a Shiloh personal foul offset and it wiped out the play.

McLaren threw an interception two plays later and Shiloh sophomore Max Eldridge ran it back for an apparent score. However, a late hit on McLaren gave Bethany new life and the ball at the 15-yard line.

Three plays later, McLaren was picked off while trying to get it to Greiner in the end zone. Shiloh senior Alexander Salter was down in the end zone for a touchback and the promising drive ended without points.

Less than two minutes later, the Saints scored again with 0:55 left in the first quarter. Shiloh Christian led 21-0 after one quarter.

That was the story for the much of the game. The Bronchos showed some life on drives but couldn’t cash in and the Saints scored often and sometimes quickly.

Shiloh scored four touchdowns in the second quarter, including an interception for a score and the Bronchos trailed, 49-0, at halftime.

Despite the score, Arthur was pleased with the effort of his young team.

“I just thought we were really playing hard. I mean, regardless of what happened,” Arthur said. “I told them (at halftime) I was proud of them for how they played. Just effort-wise and we’ve got a bunch of guys that hadn’t played a lot of varsity football.”

Arthur also praised senior Jagger Weaver, who had some success with his kickoff returns.

Bethany responded on the first series of the second half.

McLaren found Weaver in the flat and he made four defenders miss as he cut back to the middle of the field and then sprinted for a 60-yard play to the Shiloh 26-yard line. Sophomore Breck Brady got in the act on the next play with a 14-yard catch in double coverage to get to the Shiloh 12.

Two plays later, a bad exchange on a handoff from McLaren to junior Wyatt Keefer turned into a fumble and the drive died.

The Bronchos never made it back into Saints territory in the contest.

“We had some guys making plays. We just weren’t consistent enough with it. Getting down in the red zone, it gets a little hard to punch it in,” Arthur said.

The Bethany coach said his team could learn from the experience.

“Sometimes it’s good to see what a championship-level team is like,” Arthur said.

Shiloh Christian, from Springdale in northwest Arkansas, has 10 state championships in Arkansas and finished as the 6A runner-up a season ago.

The young Bronchos’ experience against a team of that caliber could help later in the season.

“We got some good reps tonight,” Arthur said. “It’s going to hurt a little bit and it should. We’re all competitive.

“I know this group, if we learned anything over the last couple weeks and over the summer, they’re going to keep fighting.”

UP NEXT

The Bronchos open 4A-2 play by hosting Chickasha (0-3) next Friday (Sept. 26) at 7 p.m. for Homecoming.

The Fighting Chicks had a bye this Friday. They lost to Anadarko, 34-8, on Sept. 12.

	1	2	3	4	F
Shiloh Christian (Ark.) (2-1)	21	28	14	9	72
Bethany (1-2)	0	0	0	0	0