Russellville defense clamps down on Van Buren in shutout to seal Arkansas 5A boys soccer title
By Kyle Sutherland | Photos by Tommy Land
BENTON — Defense has been Russellville’s M.O. throughout the season, and it was no different Saturday afternoon as the Cyclones recorded their fourth shutout of the postseason, and their fifth since the beginning of May, to defeat defending champion Van Buren 4-0 on the final day of the Weekend of Champions at the Benton Athletic Complex.
Though defense may have sealed the game in a rematch of last year's state championship, the story early on was the Cyclone offense that scored three goals within the first 10 minutes. Arius Garcia, who won the game’s Most Valuable Player after scoring two goals on the day, got it started from 28 yards out in the fifth minute followed by KyJuan Martinez almost exactly three minutes later from 35 yards, then in the 10th minute Russellville got one more insurance on a header assist from Camden Wilson that was tapped in by Fernando Castro.
Things cooled off for the rest of the first half and Russellville’s defense continued to put the clamps down, hardly allowing Van Buren to get much further than mid-field. Van Buren was able to penetrate more in the second half but were not able to finish any possessions with a goal.
Russellville (21-1-1) scored the final goal of the game in the 54th minute on a highlight bicycle kick by Garcia on a throw-in by Abisai Martinez.
“I would say this was the best start we have had all season,” Russellville head coach Jared Fuller said after the Cyclones won their first state title since 2019 and sixth in school history. “[As far as] a complete game, we could have spread them out and possessed a little bit more, but I could not be happier about it for these guys and how we played.”
Though Garcia was the hero on offense, senior goalkeeper Noe Jimenez has done yeoman’s work all season and been outstanding throughout the postseason. It took some time for him to buy into playing his position, but once he did the results have spoken volumes and coaches at the next level have taken notice.
“We’re going to miss that guy,” Fuller said. “Since his freshman year, he has gotten better and better every day. He is one of those kids who did not want to be a keeper, he wanted to be a field player. When we finally talked him into that position is where he would have a college future, he had 10 colleges offering him this year. He developed into one of the greatest Russellville keepers ever.”
For now, Jimenez plans to stay home and help with the family business, but he is not ruling out the possibility of furthering his education both academically and athletically.
“It feels good, it was a lot of hard work,” Jimenez said. “We had to beat a lot of teams to get the first seed so that was easier because we got the easier side of the bracket. [For college] it felt good that people wanted me to play, I think I might go to Central Baptist College, but I am still thinking about it.”
Van Buren (15-5-2) came in as the defending state champions after another great year in 2022 but getting in a hole early against a stellar defensive team like Russellville was just too much for the Pointers to overcome.
“You can’t give up three goals like that - Russellville is too good of a team to spot them three goals,” Van Buren head coach Nathan Almond said. “You have to be able to play them from the first whistle and we just were not ready to play at the beginning. We got a little better as the game went along but they defend too well, and it is hard to go out there and score four.”
This year’s team returned last year’s finals MVP Pedro Rodriguez, along with Kylan Almond, who scored the winning goal in that championship game. Coach Almond acknowledged that despite the hurt his kids may be feeling they should be proud of all they have accomplished.
“They are a strong class who won a championship as juniors and they made it back,” the coach said. “We wanted to win it, but it is a big deal to get back in the championship game again. We lost to a quality program, I have a lot of respect for Coach Fuller and the program he has built. That is no slouch who just beat us, we have a good team, and we are proud of these boys.”
