Trojans roll Yellowjackets
Hot Springs dominated the pitch from the opening whistle to the triple whistle as the Trojans took a 6-0 win over Sheridan on senior night at Tommy J. Holt Stadium Friday night.
The Trojans (7-2-1, 6-0 5A-South) got things going early as senior Blake Johnson-McDonald struck paydirt just 37 seconds into the game on the first shot of the match.
“We’re fortunate,” said Hot Springs head coach Geoffrey Hedrick. “We’re a really young team. We weren’t even expected to compete this year. And they’ve really jelled well, and come together as a team.”
Near the midpoint of the match, sophomore Jose Morales kicked a high-arcing right-footer into the net to make it 2-0 with 20:33 left in the first half.
Morales attempted to his second goal late in the 26th minute, but the Yellowjackets defense made the save. The ball went directly to junior Brian Hernandez, whose right-footed laser slid in from 15 yards out right down the middle for a 3-0 lead with 15:48 left.
Sheridan (2-6, 1-4) got its only shot of the night, an off-target attempt, in the 27th minute that went out the end line. With the stoppage, Sheridan switched out their goalkeeper, pulling junior Brayden Tallent onto the bench and bringing senior John Bryant out of the midfield and into goal.
“We kind of go back and forth,” said Sheridan head coach Carson Ayers. “Just what it is, the other guy’s also a very good striker and very good attacking player. So I played a risk that didn’t pay off in the beginning tonight with playing him in the field at the beginning, but it happens. Sometimes you make good decisions, and sometimes you make bad decisions.”
The Trojans wasted no time in initiating the fresh keeper as senior Walter Martinez Juarez jammed in a shot from 23 yards off the goal with 11:33 left in the half, and the spread remained unchanged into the break.
“We’re improving in areas,” Ayers said. “Compared to where we were when I got them at tryouts, the guys are 1000 times better. So we’re starting to figure out our identity a little bit, starting to actually look like a real soccer team at times. Tonight, it didn’t go our way in the scoreboard just because of a couple errors,
but that happens. If you make a few mistakes and teams capitalize, you’re gonna get beat. That’s just the way it goes.”
Hot Springs’ seniors appeared ready to call it an early night, looking to get two more goals to cut the remaining time in half under the Arkansas Activities Association’s sportsmanship rule.
On the third attempt of the second half, senior Collin Brown earned his celebration, driving down the pitch for a right-footed cross under a diving Bryant for a 5-0 lead with just 4:23 off the clock.
The Trojans had back-toback corner kicks by Hernandez, but on the second one, Martinez
Juarez earned his brace off a header past Bryant for the 6-0 lead and the guaranteed early night as the remaining time was cut from 30:10 to 15:05. Hot Springs took five more shots in the game, with just two of them on target as the team maintained the top spot in the conference.
“We play a little bit different style than we have in the past because we have different tools,” Hedrick said. “We don’t have as much individual skill, but you know, each person has their different set. And we just did the best we could with what we had.”
Hot Springs hosts Lakeside (6-3-2, 4-1) Tuesday at 7 p.m.