Heber Springs tops Southside, travels to Morrilton

Heber Springs’ Luke Greenwald looks to go on the attack against Southside Batesville in soccer action at Panther Stadium. PHILIP SEATON PHOTO

March 5, 2020

Heber Springs held off a spirited Southside Batesville to claim a 2-nil victory on Thursday at Panther Stadium.

The win improved Heber Springs to 2-1 on the young season.

“Tough playing against that bunch,” Heber Springs coach Jay Bishop said. “They always play incredibly hard. They get fired up to play Heber Springs and so do we in playing them.

“They defend really well, really hard. We had a lot of chances to score, but unfortunately only two of them fell for us, but that’s two more than they got. “

Heber Springs got a first half goal from junior Landon Barbee to lead at the break, before getting a late goal from senior Jackson Harrod on a free kick to set the margin.

The Southerners (0-1-1) played more of preventive defensive match allowing most of the action take place on their end, keeping a majority of the players back on defense which made shots on goal difficult but kept the offensive threats at a minimum.

“It very much is a prevent style,” Bishop said. “(They are looking to ) draw you or beat you in a shootout. Scoring two goals against this bunch is difficult. It’s hard to score one with the way they play and the way they defend.

“I am proud of them (my team). I told them at the end of the game, would have liked to have had a bigger margin of victory but ultimately a win is a win. When you go to bed tonight, you go to bed a winner.”

Though Southside Batesville is a conference foe, this match was scheduled as a nonconference contest.

On Tuesday, Heber Springs traveled to 5A Vilonia and came way with a 6-1 victory.

The Panthers got two goals from Julio Rubio and single goals from Diego Rubio, Gus Hannah, Jackson Harrod and Luke Greenwald against the Eagles. Barbee finished with two assists.

“We played a real good game against Vilonia,” Bishop said. “They are the exact opposite of what we saw tonight (against Southside Batesville). A team that was going to let us get behind and run create some of those chance. We scored six goals and anytime you do that you feel good about what you did.”

Heber Springs opened the season with a 5-1 loss at Panther Stadium to Harding Academy in Arkansas Activities Association benefit match.

“Of the three teams we’ve played, Harding’s the best team we have faced,” Bishop said. “They do a good job. It’s only the second year of their program, but they are a very good team. We are going to have to beat good teams to get where we want to be at the end of the road.”

HEBER SPRINGS BOYS SOCCER
COACH JAY BISHOP
OVERALL RECORD: 2-0
4A-NORTH CONFERENCE RECORD: 0-0
February 24  Harding Academy 5, Heber Springs 1 $
March 3      Heber Springs 6, Vilonia 1
March 5      Heber Springs 2, Southside Batesville 0
March 9      at Morrilton               7 p.m.
March 10     Conway St. Joseph          7 p.m.
March 13     Greenbrier                 7 p.m.
March 17     at Conway Christian        7 p.m.
March 19     at Cave City               7 p.m.
March 31     at Mountain View           7 p.m.
April 2      at Wynne *                 7 p.m.
April 4      Southside Batesville Tournament
April 6      Jonesboro Westside *       7 p.m.
April 9      at Brookland *             7 p.m.
April 13     Valley View *              7 p.m.
April 20     at Southside Batesville *  7 p.m.
April 23     at Lonoke *                7 p.m.
April 28     Batesville *               7 p.m.

(* - Denotes 4A-North conference contest.)
($ - Denotes Arkansas Activities Association benefit match. Does not count on official record.)

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