Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Goal diggers
Elite scorers, keepers top all-time soccer squad
Northwest Arkansas’ boys soccer players have accounted for five of the state’s Gatorade players of the year honorees over the most recent eight-year span, and one of those players took that prestigious honor twice.
Those four players bring that kind of reputation — and even more firepower
— to the Best of the West boys soccer team, as chosen by the sports staff with assistance by area coaches.
“I would hate to play against this team,” Bentonville coach Mike Devaney said. “There are some incredibly talented players there. All but a few of these guys, I’ve either coached or played against, and I think this group speaks for itself.
Headlining the 11-man team is Jose Vega, who had 74 goals during his four years at Springdale High — including 30 goals as a junior and 24 more during his senior season — and was named all-state three years. He became only the third player to be named Arkansas soccer player of the year twice, earning the award in 2018 and 2019, and he led the Bulldogs to the 6A state championship last season.
Wes Carson of Fort Smith Southside was named Arkansas’ player of the year by Gatorade in 2013 after he scored a school-record 38 goals his senior year. Meanwhile, Isaac Delafuente was ready to build on his 42-goal performance as a junior for Van Buren last season before the coronavirus pandemic ended his senior year prematurely.
“Issac is a good kid,” Van Buren coach Nathan Almond said. “He’s very competitive and loved to win. He had some weaknesses defensively, but he was the best finisher I have ever coached.”
Jesse Ramirez of Rogers High didn’t have that kind of numbers or the prestige, but included in his 20 goals was a hat trick during the 2017 Class 7A state championship match against Springdale Har-Ber. The same could be said for Gustavo Peraza, who combined for 40 goals and 24 assists in his junior and seniors and led Siloam Springs to a pair of Class 6A state titles in 201112.
There were also a pair of Fort Smith Northside players who did similar things for their team. Moises Diaz led the Grizzlies to the 7A state title in 2013, and Luis Paredes scored two of his 15 goals in Northside’s win over Rogers during the 2018 Class 7A state championship.
“I would love to coach this group,” Devaney said. “Give me a couple of weeks, and we’ll go beat some teams. I’m sort of envious not to coach this team, but I would love to get them together for a kickaround. It would be a wonderful team to coach.”
Not everybody on the team was involved big amounts of scoring and still came away with honors. Jose ‘Lalo’ Castro had eight goals and 14 assists when he returned to Bentonville in 2017 and was named the Gatorade player of the year for Arkansas that year, while Nelson Landaverde scored only six times when he helped Springdale capture the 2012 Class 7A state championship.
Then there are the goalkeepers. Ben Barron allowed just 18 goals in three-plus years of being Bentonville’s goalkeeper and recorded shutouts in three straight Class 7A state championship matches, while Spencer ‘Boomer’ Watson of Harrison — the first Northwest Arkansas player to earn Gatorade player of the year in 2005 — recorded 44.5 shutouts and was a four-time allstate tournament selection when the Goblins won four straight state titles.
“There have been some wonderfully talented players that have come through here over the last 1015 years,” Devaney said. “We were leaving off some wonderfully gifted players, which speaks levels of the talent in this league and in this region.
“From an offensive standpoint, this team would score some goals. We may have short-changed some of our defenders over some of the offensive firepower, but either one of those two guys in the goal would be quite happy to play in front of this group.”