Defensive Valley View stays true to itself in triumph

CLASS 4A BOYS SOCCER VALLEY VIEW 3, DE QUEEN 1

BENTON — Valley View was built on defense, and that’s what the Blazers were clinging to Saturday up 1-0 early in the second half of the Class 4A boys state soccer championship.

De Queen spent much of the half’s first 20 minutes in the Valley View end, threatening to equalize with a series of corner kicks, a near headed goal and a dangerous free kick from Edwin Garcia. Yet Valley View withstood eight second-half shots from the Leopards’ persistent attack, and held onto their slim advantage long enough for goals spaced 1:41 apart to pull away for a 3-1 victory and their second consecutive Class 4A title.

“We’ve played from back to front all season,” Valley View Coach Ron Teat said. “We knew we had to rely on our defense today, and it held together really well. To be able to hold De Queen to one goal says a lot about that group. That’s what we’ve worked on all year.”

Valley View (20-4-1) shut the door on the Leopards (20-4-3) for 78 minutes before Gustavo Garcia’s goal, clamping down to earn its third state championship since 2013 at the Benton Athletic Complex.

Haseeb Ahmad opened the scoring with 12:30 remaining in the first half, and goals from Josh Nwokeji and Hayes Webb between 18:35 and 16:54 made the Blazers’ repeat a reality.

Garcia’s goal came in a late flurry of opportunities for the Leopards, who were outshot 12-9.

The Blazers opened the season 2-4, then won 17 of their next 18 games including playoff wins over Warren and Joe T. Robinson. Spencer Dale led the Blazers’ back line at centerback, and he was named MVP.

“Going back to back feels really good,” Dale said. “We felt like we were gypped a little last year with covid-19, so this was all for the seniors this year. Our big thing this season has been communicating, and we were on point today.”

De Queen’s Daniel Marrufo registered the only shot on goal over the first 27:30, but Valley View broke the deadlock when Jose Mendoza played Ahmad through to poke the opening goal into the bottom-right corner. Nwokeji pounced on a failed clearance and almost doubled the lead three minutes later.

De Queen’s final opportunity of the first half came with 7: 30 remaining when Marrufo headed a long free kick from Edwin Behena just over the crossbar.

The Leopards’ second-half barrage began with a corner kick two minutes into the period, with an attempt by Marrufo that was blocked by a Valley View defender minutes later. De Queen earned two more corners in the first 15 minutes after halftime and came close on set piece headers at the 24:55 and 23:30 marks, but couldn’t put anything past Blazers goalkeeper Gregory Vanderbilt (four saves).

“They were composed,” said De Queen Coach Stephen Sloan, whose Leopards reached their second Class 4A title game since 2017. “We had our chances in the second half and we tried to break them but we never could.”

Nwokeji repaid the efforts of the Valley View defense in the 62nd minute when he retrieved the ball on the wing at midfield, cut inside past a series of De Queen defenders and finished off the dazzling run with a low shot into the bottom-left corner to make the Blazers’ lead 2-0.

“Josh is a special player,” Teat said. “Any time he has the ball on his foot, he can score from anywhere.”

Less than two minutes later, Webb put home a rebound off an Ahmad shot that rattled the crossbar, and Valley View led 3-0.

Garcia’s goal with 2:10 left offered hope as Luis Gonzalez nearly fired home a second goal 30 seconds later before time ran out on the Leopards.