FAYETTEVILLE -- Hot Springs Coach Cory Sturdivant came into Saturday's Class 5A boys state championship match expecting a classic.
He'll take what he saw.
The Trojans netted a pair of second-half goals to pull away from De Queen 3-1, earning their second consecutive state title over De Queen.
"I want to take nothing away from that De Queen program. Those kids are phenomenal," Sturdivant said. "It was everything we thought it would be coming into the game."
Hot Springs Erick Guadron capped his career with his 15th multigoal game of the year, pushing him over 50 goals for the season. The senior scored with just under 26 minutes to play in the first half to tie the match 1-1. De Queen's Leonardo Dominguez gave the Leopards an edge four minutes into the game on a penalty kick. The teams went into the break even at 1-1.
Late in the second half, De Queen had a go-ahead goal disallowed when the sideline official ruled a player offsides. Leopards Coach Steven Sloan said his club hung its head for a moment, and Hot Springs took advantage.
Johnny Gonzales-Vasquez netted a goal with 11 minutes left to give Hot Springs the lead for good. Guadron added an insurance in the final five minutes to set the final score.
"He's a competitor," Sturdivant said of Guadron, who earned MVP honors. "He gives it everything he's got, and we knew people were going to key in on him this year. We've had so many kids step up. The character of these kids, I'm telling you, it's phenomenal."
Sturdivant said the match would come down to strong midfield play, and his team took the message to heart.
"We had a few minutes where we let [De Queen] get to the ball, but whoever won the ball in the middle of the field was going to win the game, and the kids responded well," he said. "It was a completely different team in the second half."
Hot Springs travels back to central Arkansas with back-to-back state titles and a 21-4 record. De Queen caps its runner-up season with an 18-7-1 mark.
"We knew it was going to come down to a play here and a play there, and that's basically what it was," Sloan said. "They made a run, made a great play. It is what it is."
Sturdivant stressed how proud he was of his players and their representation of the community. For him, it will take a lot to beat Saturday's experience.
"I think this was the best state championship game I've ever got to see or be a part of," he said.
Sports on 05/21/2017