Bentonville too much for Rogers Heritage

NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER Osmin Perez (left), Rogers Heritage junior, and Jose Castro, Bentonville sophomore, vie for possession Friday at David Gates Stadium in Rogers.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/JASON IVESTER Osmin Perez (left), Rogers Heritage junior, and Jose Castro, Bentonville sophomore, vie for possession Friday at David Gates Stadium in Rogers.

ROGERS -- Bentonville may be known for its defense, but the Tigers' offense was on display Friday in Gates Stadium.

Bentonville scored three goals in the first 20 minutes and went on to a 5-2 victory over Rogers Heritage in 7A-West Conference boys soccer.

Junior midfielder Josh Hylton caught the Heritage keeper too far out and scored for a 2-1 lead, and only a couple minutes later, Zack Estrada added another goal to give Bentonville (5-0, 2-0 7A-West) control midway through the first half.

The Tigers added another as senior Josh Howard scored off a feed from Cory Jones for a 4-1 halftime advantage.

Bentonville coach Mike Devaney liked what he saw for the most part from his team.

"I thought we came out and we played well in long stretches of the first half," Devaney said. "We did well in terms of possession of ball and creating chances. We had the ball in the back of the net six times in the first half. But for the most part, I thought we settled down and got into a rhythm early, and I thought that was important."

Devaney was still a bit critical of his team at halftime.

"The point I made to the kids is we need to be more clinical, a little bit more quality in the attacking half," Devaney said. "I thought we were giving some balls away under no pressure. But the times where we played quickly and got the ball down, that's when we created an awful lot of chances.

"We gave up a couple of soft goals tonight. That doesn't please me particularly, but going forward I thought we were very good."

Sophomore midfielder Jose Castro added his second goal of the night with 20 minutes, 54 seconds left in the second half for a 5-1 Bentonville lead.

Freshman Charlie Hernandez connected on a penalty kick for his second goal of the night late in the second half for Heritage (2-2-2, 0-2).

Heritage coach Christhian Saavedra said the War Eagles, who dropped their second straight conference match this week, ran into a tough opponent.

"They are a very organized team," Saavedra said. "They have an objective in mind and they execute. I'm proud of my guys. They are giving me everything they've got."

Paul Boyd can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @nwapaulb

Sports on 03/21/2015

Upcoming Events