NORTH LITTLE ROCK — Central Arkansas Christian’s Lady Mustangs have won a state-best nine soccer championships, but the boys team matched the girls’ 2019 title for the third boys crown in school history.
“Obviously, it’s hard to replicate what [the girls have] done — it’s so unprecedented — but the boys have been on the cusp for a while,” Mustang coach Andy Stewart said. “They got over the hill this time.”
Stewart’s squad finished 15-3, capped by a 4-0 victory over Green Forest in the Class 3A state championship at the University of Arkansas’ Razorback Field.
It was the first state title for the Mustangs since 2015. They’d won their first one in 2008. It was their seventh time to reach the championship game since 2004.
All three of their 2019 losses came in early March. After falling to De Queen, 2-0, and Little Rock Catholic, 4-1, in the Shamrock Cup in Little Rock on March 2, they fell at Arkadelphia, 4-1, on March 7.
But they didn’t lose again, reeling off 13 consecutive wins by a combined score of 49-10.
“Talk about peaking at the right time — they peaked at the right time,” Stewart said.
CAC, the top seed from the 3A-East in the state tournament, knocked off Danville in the opening round, 3-0; Decatur in the quarterfinals, 6-0; Gurdon in the semifinals, 3-1; and Green Forest in the championship, 4-0 — a combined score in the state tournament of 16-1.
“Obviously, it feels good,” Stewart said of his fourth Mustang squad winning his first state title. “I wouldn’t say that we didn’t have an expectation of winning, but I didn’t think we were favorites going into the [tournament], even the final.
“I’d heard so many great things about Green Forest, and we watched them play. They were very good. But we had a plan; we executed well, and good things happened.”
Senior Blake Smith scored all four goals in the rematch of the 2014 final.
“Blake had the right performance at the right time,” Stewart said. “He’s always been a hardworking player, and he’s had a great attitude the whole time I’ve coached him. I wouldn’t say he’s a prolific goal scorer, but in that game,he picked great spots. The ball fell to him, and he made it work.”
Smith was named MVP.
“I scored four in a game against Bauxite last year, but that doesn’t compare,” he said. “Not even close.”
Junior keeper Brandon Bishop secured the shutout.
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The Mustangs were led by nine seniors — Smith, Eli Demarco, Matthew Kim, Seth Crews, Hayden Young, Patrick Weeks, Haydn Burton, Andrew Velek and Krishaun Watson. The group was a big part of the team’s character, Stewart said.
“They’ve got some grit about them that I’ve not seen before,” the coach said. “Even when the chips were down, they weren’t the team to give up, no matter what. They bought into the process I was bringing.”
Smith, who will head to Arkansas State this fall to study psychology en route to a career in occupational therapy, had coveted a high school state championship. In addition to soccer, for which he started last year, he had played football, basketball and baseball for the Mustangs.
“It was pretty great for us to win a state title in my last high school game ever,” he said. “And for me to score four goals — it was meant to be.”
Smith said Stewart, who was his 10th-grade Bible teacher, was the main reason he played soccer.
“At our last practice, I told him, ‘If you weren’t the coach, I probably wouldn’t be playing,’” Smith remembered. “He’s just real cool. He interacts with the students and is nice to everybody. Good guy.”
Smith’s senior year ended with sweet success following a broken foot and a cracked L5 vertebra that marred his football season.
He and his classmates were freshmen during Stewart’s first season atop the program.
“I’ve been in the soccer world playing at a very high level, so I’ve never really done it for the win,” said Stewart, who grew up in Newcastle, England, before arriving in the United States in 2008 to play soccer for Milligan College in East Tennessee. “More than anything, just to be able to win for the kids, it was just so enthralling for them.
“We could see it on their faces and their parents’ faces, all the work they put in. That’s why you do it.”
Stewart moved from assistant high school principal to principal following the win. At press time, he said he may or may not be back as coach in 2020.
“If not, it was a good way to go out,” he said. “At the moment, there are no changes, but I don’t know if I’ll keep coaching.”
Stewart played four years at Milligan while earning his degree in physical education. After teaching for a year in Tennessee, he earned a master’s degree at the University of West Florida in Pensacola, where he served as assistant soccer coach.
He had met Rachel, the woman he would marry, while at Milligan. A child life specialist, her job at Arkansas Children’s Hospital brought the couple to central Arkansas and him to Mustang Mountain.
“I had a background in coaching, and when I first took the job at CAC, it was coaching soccer and teaching physical education,” he said. “Then I moved into the administrative realm.”
If he does return to the sideline next spring, he’ll lead the Mustangs as they try to defend their latest state title.
If he doesn’t, he’ll always have a ring for this one — and the memories of leading them back to the top of the mountain.