Dardanelle owns second half in domination of Warren

FAYETTEVILLE -- The Dardanelle Sand Lizards turned a 2-1 halftime lead into a rout by scoring four goals in the second half, posting a 6-1 victory over the Warren Lumberjacks to claim the Class 4A boys state soccer championship for the second year in a row.

The Sand Lizards (20-2-2) never trailed, getting two goals from MVP David Rodriguez in the first 31 minutes before the Lumberjacks (20-3-1) got on the board.

The second half was all Dardanelle.

"We tried to tighten our wings up towards the middle and tried to keep them from playing the long ball," Dardanelle co-Coach Don Earnest said. "They were playing for the counterattack, and we were trying to make them possess it. We were able to attack them some. We've got some weapons. We were able to get Rodriguez out and attack the space he left. And they were forced to push him up into the midfield, which opened it up for us."

Rodriguez's first goal came with 17:31 left in the first half on a long kick from the middle, about 35 yards out. He scored again 7½ minutes later, this time on a free kick from about 25 yards away.

Warren kept Dardanelle out of the net for the rest of the half and got its own goal when Solomon Garay scored after a header by Javier Tinoco and an assist from Santiago Garcia.

After Earnest's adjustments at halftime, the Sand Lizards scored three goals over a six-minute stretch to take control of the match.

Jastin Hernandez scored with 33:57 left to play when he kicked the ball into the goal on the rebound after Rodriguez's attempt after a hat trick was knocked back into play.

Just over three minutes later, Luis Villegas scored to make it 4-1. He shook two defenders on a runaway kick.

Jose Perez scored with 27:40 left to play for a 5-1 lead, allowing Dardanelle to begin subbing in junior varsity players. Jose Samaniego found the back of the net with 2:22 left for the final goal.

Both head coaches said the second title felt just as sweet as the first.

"It was our goal to get here again this year," Dardanelle co-Coach Bryan Hardaway said. "And the kids all agreed that if we did not make it back, they were going to be real disappointed."

The Sand Lizards had eight returning starters from last year's team, and six of those were seniors. They already have set the goal of returning to Fayetteville for a three-peat.

"We lose a few players in critical positions, but the kids coming up have the attitude that we should be playing for the title every year," Earnest said. "And that's where you want your program to be."

Sports on 05/21/2017

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