Hornets top Pointers to earn semis berth
CONWAY—After knocking out Fort Smith Southside 6-1 in the first round, the West No. 4 seed Van Buren Pointers ran into the 6A Central No. 1 seeded Hornets Friday morning. The Hornets would take the match 2-1 and move on to today’s semifinals against Rogers, which defeated Bentonville West on Friday, at noon.
“The first game is always a tough one in the tournament,” Bryant Coach RicK Friday said. “When you have a team that just played yesterday, and who won 6-1, they’re rolling behind that.”
The Hornets (15-2-2) came out striking early as left wing Grant Jacuzzi found an open lane toward the center of the box and took a shot finding the top right corner at the 36:18 mark in the first half.
The Hornets found another opportunity to score just a minute later off a Luis Lara free kick, but the shot was ultimately saved.
The Pointers (12-10) would find their bearing, drawing goal with 12:53 left in the first half off a goal from Isaac Delafuente.
The Hornets struggled to contain the Pointers until the 6-minute mark when a formation change gave the team back the momentum.
With this momentum, Hornet striker Brandon Delgadillo knocked a 25-yard
strike from the middle of the 18-yard box with 2:30 to play and gave the Hornets a 2-1 advantage going into halftime.
The Hornets would continue this trend into the second half as Jacuzzi put up another early shot but missed just wide.
The second half the Hornets would pick up three yellow cards, one coming off the bench.
Both teams’ defenses battled to contain each other’s offense, but the Pointers were forced to try and find the balance and the equalizer giving up opportunities to the Hornet offense. However, both teams’ defenses would hold to the
final whistle, giving the Hornets the 2-1 victory.
“The first half we were nervous, and I told them at halftime ‘you’re playing into their hands, every time you hit the ball long, they hit it in back and they turn it into a payoff,so just settle down,’” Friday said. “It’s a special group of kids here. We’ve worked hard for three years, and we’ve never made it this far. It’s been a year of firsts. First time we beat Catholic in six years, first time we beat Conway in Conway in I don’t know how long, and our first Central Conference championship in a true 6A bracket, so we hope to continue the first on from there.”