SPRINGDALE - Gabe and Orsy Gonzalez went running on a secluded dirt road about a mile from their house over Christmas break.
The brothers matched each other stride-for-stride for a while. Orsy, three years younger, could only keep pace for so long.
“About the first three miles,” he said.
Not that that’s anything to be ashamed of.
Gabe runs cross country and track at Arkansas following a stint at Kansas, and a high school career that included two Class 7A cross country state championships, several track state titles and multiple Springdale High school records. A typical week includes running 75 to 80 miles.
And while the elder Gonzalez would clearly have the upper hand in a distance race, the result would be different if it was a sprint.
“I actually got kind of jealous because he’s a lot faster than me,” Gabe said. “Sprints, he’s a lot faster than me. If it’s over a mile, I’ve got him.”
That speed and athleticism is what makes the younger Gonzalez one of the best defenders in the state for one of the top boys soccer teams in the state. He has been a key member on Springdale teams that advanced to the state championship match each of the last two years, winning the state title in 2012 and finishing runner-up last year.
“I think you’d be hard pressed to find anybody better than him, defensively, in the state,” Springdale coach D.J. Beeler said. “His deal, he’s a good player, but he’s just a freak athlete. We don’t have 40 times, but he does things that are just crazy. How fast he is, how quick his fi rststep is, his top speed and when he jumps. It’s just unbelievable.”
Gonzalez spearheaded a stifl ing Springdale defense that allowed just 17 goals in 23 games last year. He has good awareness thanks in part to a wealth of experience garnered while playing club soccer for the eighttime defending state champion Arkansas Comets FC 96B Premier.
But it’s his athleticism that sets him apart.
“Last year at Conway, they had done a really good job at one point and had kind of broken us down,” Beeler said. “They played a ball into this kid and he was onsides going to goal and probably had 12 yards on Orsy. He was our last defender with not very far to go. You could hear the Conway fans’ excitement. Then, boom, just like that, Orsy had caught up to him and taken the ball, turned around and played out.”
Springdale was second in the 7A/6A-West to crosstown rival Springdale Har-Ber last year before advancing to the state title game, where it fell to Fort Smith Northside. The Bulldogs don’t want to settle for second-place finishes this year.
PROFILE ORSY GONZALEZ SCHOOL: Springdale High CLASS: Senior POSITION: Defender NOTABLE: Key member of Springdale teams that advanced to the state championship match the last two years, including winning the title in 2012. … Large part of the reason springdale allowed just 0.73 Goals per game last season. … Considering Eastern Oklahoma State and Neosho County Community College.
“There’s expectation for them and myself that we have to win a conference championship and a state championship in order to have a successful season,” Beeler said. “And we don’t feel good or have any moral victories over fi nishing second. Nobody’s going to be really happy unless we win everything.”
Orsy will again be an integral part of Springdale’s success. And he gets to look forward to playing with Gabe in the stands, a rarity his fi rst two years on varsity while Gabe was at Kansas.
“Now I’ll get a chance to watch,” Gabe said. “When he was a sophomore, I went to the fi nals.”
Gabe wants to witness the Bulldogs win their second state title in three years after they came up just short last season when Northside beat them in penalty kicks, a close postseason fi nish that has become commonplace for Springdale in recent memory. The Bulldogs haven’t had their season end in a regulation loss in fi ve years.
Big brother may get to watch his younger sibling take on a new role if Springdale fi nds itself in another clutch penalty kick situation late in the year.
“I will this year,” Orsy said of attempting penalty kicks. “You usually don’t see that (from a defender). We always would practice them. And I always would make them.”
That shouldn’t come as a surprise given that he’s a part of one of the most athletically gifted families in town.
“Gabe was in a league of his own in high school,” Beeler said. “Orsy doesn’t do a sport that gets individual recognition like that. But there’s two state champions in that family.
Gabe finished his Springdale career with multiple state titles. Springdale hopes Orsy is part of his second championship this year.
Sports, Pages 9 on 02/16/2014