BENTONVILLE -- Defensive play has been the mantra for Bentonville's boys soccer team during its back-t0-back Class 7A state championships, but that didn't mean the Tigers' offense couldn't pick up the pace.
That's what Josh Howard was determined to do this spring, and the senior forward's play benefitted from this change.
"I knew I had to step up and put more goals into the back of the net," Howard said. "The past few years, we've had goal scorers and that's something we had to have. At the end of the day, it comes down to who has more goals, and if you put them in the back of the net, there's no arguing with that.
"If you looked the amount of goals Zack Estrada and I scored this year, there are entire teams that don't even score that many. It's huge because both of us saw what we had to do, and we stepped up and filled that space."
Howard finished with a career-high 16 goals and added 11 assists to lead the Tigers to an 18-2 record and their second consecutive state title. Included in those totals was his first hat trick, which he compiled during a win against Rogers High.
"I felt like I was on that night," Howard said. "Everything was just going my way. I scored off three set pieces. One was off a rebound, one was off a Bennett Moehring free kick from beyond midfield and the other was a tap-in off another free kick by Bennett that bounced around a few times in the box."
Howard credited much of his success to teammates that he's played with for years, but he also helped take some of the pressure off himself. He went ahead and signed his letter of intent with Rogers State before the season started.
"It definitely helped," Howard said. "We already had the pressure of being a defending state champion on our back. If I would have had the search for a college going on and the pressure of college coaches watching me every single game, I think it would have been a little too much."
-- Henry Apple • @NWAHenry
Sports on 06/11/2015