Soccer: Zizumbo a spark during Har-Ber's league title run

NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANTHONY REYES @NWATONYR
Jesus Zizumbo (10) of Springdale Har-Ber passes the ball forward against Fayetteville Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at Harmon Field in Fayetteville. The Wildcats won 3-1.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANTHONY REYES @NWATONYR Jesus Zizumbo (10) of Springdale Har-Ber passes the ball forward against Fayetteville Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at Harmon Field in Fayetteville. The Wildcats won 3-1.

SPRINGDALE -- It became a morning routine. Each day during the regular season, Springdale Har-Ber's Jesus Zizumbo hopped on the MaxPreps website to check out the Wildcats' most recent national ranking.

When he gave the top 10 a look April 20, Har-Ber was sitting in the middle, standing out on his phone screen as the No. 5 team in the country by the website's metrics.

"That pumps me up. That is crazy," Zizumbo said. "I want to play a top-10-ranked team for sure to see how good we really are."

Zizumbo and Har-Ber grabbed the school's second-ever conference title last Friday after receiving help from its crosstown rival, which knocked off Rogers High, 5-1. The Wildcats fell 2-0 to Rogers Heritage but celebrated a league crown just moments after the final horn once news of Springdale's win came in.

The news wasn't all good Friday, though. Late in the match, Zizumbo was hit with a red card and ejected, marking him ineligible to play in Har-Ber's state tournament opener Friday against the Conway-Bentonville winner.

But this season has been one he envisioned long before it began. Maybe not a two- or three-loss season, he said, but Zizumbo thought Har-Ber could be in a position to grab a No. 1 seed in the postseason. The Wildcats did just that behind his special junior year.

"He's putting in a lot of work," Har-Ber coach Cory Butler said. "It's also a lot of the team moving the ball around. We're doing a better job of finding the right player in the right place. He was the right player last year, we just didn't get it to him."

On April 11 against Heritage, the ball found Zizumbo, and he found the net amid late-game chaos. The junior scored with just 18 seconds left in regulation, gifting the Wildcats their eighth consecutive win with his first game-winning goal.

"I shot it, and it went in, and I just started sprinting down the field. I was about to go home sprinting," he said smiling.

The Wildcats eventually reeled off two more wins, pushing the streak to 10 wins in a row before falling to Bentonville, 2-1, in late April. Har-Ber closed the regular season a 16-win team and 11-3 in the 7A-West, which, by MaxPreps' rankings, has four teams (Heritage, Rogers, Springdale, Har-Ber) in the top 40 nationally and two (Har-Ber, Heritage) in the top 25.

Har-Ber football coach Chris Wood has seen firsthand what an asset Zizumbo can be to a team. As a sophomore, he was named All-State. As a junior, he was awarded All-Conference honors as a kicker.

"He's a kid we really trust. He's a great dual-sport guy," Wood said. "He's had a great season this year in soccer; he's done that during football season. He's the kind of guy you want out (on the field), and he likes to win."

Zizumbo said he's determined to better his career long of 51 yards, which he set against Springdale High last fall just before halftime.

Har-Ber will face the Wampus Cats or Tigers on Friday at 2 p.m. at Fort Smith Northside, looking to continue what has already been a storybook season.

Sports on 05/11/2017

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