Guadron goes out in style with game-winning goal
CONWAY — Two Garland County players collaborated on the winning goal in the Arkansas High School Coaches Association boys all-star soccer game Wednesday night at Estes Stadium.
Hot Springs’ Erick Guadron scored off a feed from Lakeside’s Jack Butler with about 10 minutes left for a 3-2 West victory over the East.
Guadron was also named the most valuable player for the match, capping a high-school career that he scored 187 goals and played on back-to-back Class 5A championship teams. He is headed to Prescott, Ariz., to play for Yavapai (Junior) College.
“I’m excited,” he said. “I don’t have any words for it. This season was very happy. We won the 5A state championship and now win here. I’m very excited for this, and I’ll just keep working and doing better things every game.”
Benton’s Will Guerra scored the first goal unassisted in the sixth minute, dribbling to the left side before sending the ball past East keeper Victor Rodriguez, of Hamburg.
Jonesboro’s Nathan Simons tied it in the 10th minute, skiring the ball past Hot Springs goalkeeper Manny Santillan.
Russellville’s Nate Turner regained the lead for the West with an assist from Central Arkansas Christian’s Brett Bishop after 19:33 of the first half. Little Rock Christian’s JT Holliman got the ball past West keeper Ryan Viscardis, of Lakeside, for a 2-2 tie.
The West dominated the pitch, taking 25 shots with 19 on target and 15 steals while the East took 13 shots with nine on goal and only eight steals. The West limited the East to four shots in the second half, all on target while taking 11, seven on goal.
Santillan stopped four out of five shots and Viscardis three of four. Butler had two steals for the West.
Rodriguez saved four of six in the match while Bryant’s John Sohn fended off 12 of 13 shots, eight taken in the second half.
“These guys aren’t fit for an 80-minute game, so I figured the first 20 minutes on both sides would be the best soccer you would see,” said West coach Brent Crenshaw, of Siloam Springs. “It wasn’t very pretty. We kept trying to sub them to get fresh legs in the field because they’re just not fit to play 80 minutes this time of year. Erick is a special player; he hit a special shot late.”
Simons was named the outstanding player for the East, while Rogers’ Alex Balderas was named outstanding player for the West.
Completing all-star week in Conway is the football game at 7 p.m. today at Estes Stadium. Fountain Lake coach J.D. Plumlee is an assistant coach for the West team, which has Caleb Dean and Ethan Eye from Lakeside, Devin Shaw of Malvern and Logan Abernathy of Mount Ida on the roster. Plumlee is reunited with West head coach Billy Dawson, of Fayetteville, after calling offensive plays for the Dawson-coached Russellville Class 6A championship team last year.