NHS GRIZZLIES FACE ROGERS FOR 7A SOCCER TITLE

For the third time in six seasons, the Northside Grizzlies will be playing for a state soccer championship. The latest opportunity takes place today, as the Grizzlies face defending 7A champion Rogers for the title at the University of Arkansas. Northside won the championship in 2013 in the first season under coach Mauricio Maciel, but lost in the title match in 2015. “That’s pretty special,” Maciel said. “You go from having a program that is not only making the playoffs but taking them to the state final; perhaps that shows that we are having some effect on the program. ... Of course, all credit goes to the players because first of all, they’re the ones that play, they’re the ones that sacrifice and leave everything on the field, so just a little bit of their guidance and their talent combined can take you a long way.” Today’s title tilt is also a match-up of two teams that have been putting things together at the right time. Northside (15-5-1) finished the regular season as the 7A-Central runner-up, but the Grizzlies come in having won five straight games. Their last three games in that streak turned out to be the edge-of-your-seat variety. In the regular season finale, Northside got a goal with one second left in regulation to force overtime against Southside, a game the Grizzlies eventually won. Then at the 7A State Tournament last week, Northside beat Fayetteville on an overtime goal from Jarvin Nieto before Ricky Iturriaga’s goal with approximately four minutes left gave the Grizzlies a come-from-behind 2-1 win against 7A-West champion Springdale in the semifinals. Rogers, on the other hand, seemed to be in a rebuilding mode following its state title win a year ago. The team started 7A-West play at 3-6, and also dropped its last two regular-season games. But it’s been a much different story in the postseason. Rogers (14-10-1) posted shutout wins in each of its three games at state, including back-to-back 1-0 wins against 7A-Central champion Conway in the quarterfinals as well as against Little Rock Catholic in the semifinals, with the decisive goal coming on a penalty kick early in the match. “They have been peaking perhaps at the right time because they started losing games at the beginning of the season and most of their wins are coming toward the end of the season, so they are peaking probably at the right time,” Maciel said. “That’s one of the things that worries me a little bit about them. ... They have players that fight through the full 80 minutes and if you go into overtime, they’ll continue to fight, so that’s one of the things that we’ve got to keep in mind as we play them. “Those guys are not going to give up; if we’re going to win, we’ve got to perhaps score a couple of goals and try to put the game away and maybe that will take care of it, but they are going to be a team that definitely challenges us.” Maciel added that the experience of winning a state title also gives Rogers an edge entering today’s game. “They do have players who are part of that championship team, that definitely gives you experience at this level, which is really important,” Maciel said. “It looks like they have some guys that can definitely score it from up on top.” What also impressed Maciel was the fact that Rogers beat Springdale, 5-4, in a game last month. It turned out to be the only loss for Springdale until last week’s semifinal loss to the Grizzlies. “They scored five goals on Springdale, and tells me that when they also play the game, they can be a team that can score more than two goals,” Maciel said. “The fact that they beat Springdale tells me that they can be dangerous.” Another factor which concerns Maciel is that the Grizzlies, who have a double-digit number of seniors on their roster, will be playing the day right after Northside’s graduation, which was held Thursday night. That means the players, especially the seniors, have to turn right around from the euphoria of graduation night, get on a bus this morning and prepare to win a state championship. But Maciel said once the game starts, it’s going to be up to the Grizzlies to work as a team in order to bring home the program’s first state championship since 2013. “We move up as a team and we defend as a team, and also stay focused, that we don’t let bad calls or crowds or nothing (affect us),” Maciel said. “We just need to focus on playing the game, forget about everything else and that’s what is going to be key for us, just staying focused through the whole game.” Northside enters today’s game having scored a total of 62 goals in regulation time while allowing just 19 goals in that same span. Rogers has scored 52 goals in regulation time while giving up 28.

NHS GRIZZLIES FACE ROGERS FOR 7A SOCCER TITLE

BUCK RINGGOLD

Times Record | 5/18/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Brian D. Sanderford