Soccer Player of the Year: Springdale's Batres A Natural Scorer

SPRINGDALE -- Erick Batres' asthma came in handy as a 7-year-old in El Salvador.

While other children headed off to work in the fields with their parents at young ages, Batres got to stay home by himself and kick the soccer ball around.

His love for the game developed at an early age, whether it was from watching his father's team play or constructing a near-regulation size goal out of sticks in his family's backyard to practice during those afternoons alone.

"I just loved scoring," Batres said.

The backdrop changed when he and his family moved to Springdale when he was 9, but Batres continued to hone his skill daily. Now, almost a decade later, he's graduated from Springdale High and is on the verge of attending Eastern Oklahoma State to continue his soccer career after making a huge impact for the Bulldogs' varsity team the last three years, including being named All-NWA Media Boys Soccer Player of the Year for schools Class 6A and larger.

"For a kid that wasn't born in this country to be doing something like that, he's got members of his family, even a younger cousin (Kevin) that plays for us on our JV team, that just look up to him so much because of what he's been able to do," Springdale coach D.J. Beeler said. "It's pretty cool."

Batres leaves Springdale after being a key cog during an impressive three-year stretch in which the Bulldogs won the 2012 state championship, finished as the state runner-up last season and advanced to the semifinals this year. The Bulldogs, led by a large, 13-man senior class, clinched their seventh consecutive top-two finish in conference play this season and made another deep run in the Class 7A state tournament.

"It's rare to have that many seniors," Beeler said. "Six is pretty typical. If you look at the success that we've had and the record that we've had while those kids have been playing, they're probably the most successful class."

Batres has been vital to that success.

Some of his classmates made an impact on varsity as freshmen. Batres was a bench player on the JV team.

He was a different player when practices started back up the fall semester of his sophomore year.

"He comes in, and he just stands out all the sudden," Beeler said. "And you're just like, 'OK, well, got something here.' There's always a surprise like that."

He spent the next three years establishing himself as one of the better offensive players in the state with a knack for coming up with clutch goals.

As a sophomore in 2012, he scored the game-winning goal in a semifinal showdown against Little Rock Central to send Springdale to the state championship game, which the Bulldogs won. Last year, he scored on a bad hamstring 19 seconds into overtime to lift Springdale to a semifinal win over Little Rock Catholic.

Batres ended his senior season with a flurry of big games.

He scored three goals, including two in the final three minutes in a comeback win over Fayetteville, then scored two second-half goals a week later in another comeback win over Springdale Har-Ber in the regular season finale. He followed up those two performances with goals in each of the Bulldogs' two playoff wins.

"It's been amazing, that's for sure," Batres said of his Springdale career. "We had a lot of success."

Success he hopes continues at Eastern Oklahoma State with Bulldog teammate Roberto Castro and several club soccer teammates.

He's come a long way since those early days in El Salvador, literally and figuratively. His love for scoring has never changed, whether the goal was made out of sticks or metal.