An hour before the first home kickoff of the regular season, the propane tank already was heating up a grill in the War Memorial Stadium parking lot.
Ben Keller, 29, adjusted the lawn chairs under the blue tent at his tailgate.
Keller wore a Little Rock Rangers jersey with the number 16 stamped on the back -- which represents the 16 people who founded the nonprofit amateur athletic organization in 2015 -- and an extension cord trickled out of the open rear door of his black Jeep Grand Cherokee. The cord powered a TV set, which rested on a fold-out table and displayed the opening minutes of the Columbus-New York match in Major League Soccer.
Keller's friend, Robert Hailey, 29, set up corn hole boards that were painted with the logo of Pulaski Academy, where Keller's wife, Mandy, teaches.
Ben and Mandy have held season tickets, which cost $100 each, since the Rangers first started playing in 2016.
"Been following them since the beginning," said Ben, who lives in North Little Rock. "I drug him along."
Hailey laughed. He'd never been to a soccer match before Keller persuaded him to attend the Rangers' 2017 home finale against Springdale's Ozarks FC.
The Rangers had lost 2-1, but Hailey was hooked by the environment: the pep band and the fans shaking red powder out of metal trash cans.
Hailey cared about soccer during only the World Cup, but here he was once again with his friend getting ready to support the Rangers men's and women's teams.
"I'm slowly trying to convert him," Keller said.
The pair returned to their work, where they and 12 friends would watch a little of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville baseball team's super regional opener against South Carolina before going into the stadium.
A father and his son ran past, wearing a blend of Rangers and Razorbacks gear, on their way to the ticket booth.
Behind the booth's glass window, Rangers owner Jonathan Wardlaw, 43, typed on his cellphone.
Wardlaw bought the men's National Premier Soccer League franchise to debut in 2016 with donations from family members and friends. He bought a Women's Premier Soccer League franchise that began competing in 2017.
A black food truck chugged up Stadium Drive and parked next to the west gate.
The 106th Army Band exited the west gate's stadium elevator and strode toward the field, where it retrieved its brass instruments.
"This will be my first soccer game to play at," said Staff Sgt. Carl McCraney, 44, who played the trumpet in the band's on-field performance of the national anthem.
A few hundred people arrived for the Rangers women, who began their game against Texas Spurs FC at 5 p.m.
The franchises' supporter groups, The Red Order and The Red Watch, stood at the base of the seats, and a man in a red kilt pounded a base drum.
About 20 rows up, a white tent was set up in the bleachers. A sign, which hung above a pair of coolers, boldly read "BEER."
By halftime, Texas Spurs FC led 4-0. In the 52nd minute, Rangers forward Sairra Tucker received a pass on the left side of the goal, then curved the ball into the right side of the goal from nearly 10 yards out.
The goal set the final score at 4-1, and the Rangers fell to 0-5, last place in the Southwest Conference.
Spurs midfielder Gabriella Coleman scored three goals, including a looping goal from the left side after she received a pass that traveled more than 30 yards from across the field.
Coleman was left open downfield after the Spurs connected on a sequence of short, downfield passes.
"When you connect two, three passes quickly and you keep your outsides wide, it makes the outside defender make a choice," Rangers women's Coach Tasha Flynn said. "Do they stay wide or do they stay narrow?"
The Rangers did the same thing during Tucker's second-half goal.
"We didn't do that often enough," Flynn said.
The crowd swelled to a recorded total of 1,200 by the start of the men's game against Saint Louis Club Atletico at 7:45 p.m. Last season, the Rangers' average attendance (2,058) ranked fifth out of the 33 NPSL teams that reported data.
The Red Order and The Red Watch added a secondary drum, and when the game kicked off, two members activated two red smoke flares.
Large red plumes wafted over Section 29.
The Rangers lost 3-2 to drop to 2-3 on the season, falling to fourth place in the Heartland Conference.
Eight minutes into play, Rangers forward Alex Guadron made a goal from nearly 15 yards out on the left side to put Little Rock up 1-0.
It was Guadron's fifth consecutive goal for the Rangers. He was named NPSL National Player of the Week after scoring four goals in a 4-3 victory over Demize NPSL on June 1.
The game was tied 2-2 going into the final minutes, when Atletico scored the go-ahead goal.
"Sometimes that's the way the game falls," Ranger's men's Coach Will Montgomery said. "We have to be more focused and deeply concentrated on our task in those moments. And it's usually in the dying moments of the game when something like that happens."
Sports on 06/10/2018