2016 5A Boys Championship:Hot Springs 4 Valley View 2 !Discuss!

[JMBknvc]

I doubt it will be that big at least not as big as Friday because Lakeside let their students out of class to attend.  But it was a pretty cool atmosphere for a high school soccer match.

I saw a couple of Lakeside games this year, I'd say those crowds are at least double anything I saw.

Disappointed to hear this. Was hoping the 12th Man was very much alive and part of every south conference home match. That atmosphere and energy Lakeside was able to draw from would definitely explain way someone said south conference home field was worth at least two goals during the regular season. Would agree that statement was true for Friday's match.       

[mijally]

Considering Lakeside beat Hot Springs by the same 4-3 score at home and played Dequeen within one goal I don't think Maumelle's effort was disappointing. Like I've said before, home field advantage in the South is huge. Our team is young and not that far away. The future is bright if we can keep everyone at Maumelle and fight off the recruiters.  . Just kidding.

[Jdhelbig]

.

[Badger]

Considering Lakeside beat Hot Springs by the same 4-3 score at home and played Dequeen within one goal I don't think Maumelle's effort was disappointing. Like I've said before, home field advantage in the South is huge. Our team is young and not that far away. The future is bright if we can keep everyone at Maumelle and fight off the recruiters.  . Just kidding.

Hey, I think Maumelle stole one of Catholic's sophomores.  Kidding, too. 

[mijally]

Hey, I think Maumelle stole one of Catholic's sophomores.  Kidding, too.

And you got one of our Freshman who will be a good player for you.

[arksoccer20]

who is the freshman that maumelle lost?

[mijally]

who is the freshman that maumelle lost?

Technically he never was ours. Just lives in Maumelle but has gone to a Catholic school JR High and grade school for a while. 

[VHSCoach2]

Hot Springs 3, Lakeside 2 - final

[chaoslord]

Hot Springs 3
Lakeside 2
Believe that is a final.

Seeing DeQueen 3 Valley View 5, not sure of time. Apparently was 4-1 at half pulled back to 4-3

[VHSCoach2]

Valley View 5, De Queen 3 - final

[Silver88]

Could VV be the sleeper that everyone has overlooked? Or is Hot Springs too good and VV's Cinderella run about to end. Here's too a great game and go Blazers!!!

[sevenof400]

I'm not sure that Valley View is a sleeper as much as they just haven't played games that were really testing them all season.  That's not to fault Valley View as some of the teams on their schedule are among the traditional powers but were down this year.  You have to give full marks to Valley View for escalating their game come playoff time though.

[JMBknvc]

Made the trip back to Hot Springs this morning to the home of the Trojans for the cross town semi-finals. Had no problem finding a parking spot or a place to sit and watch the match. Will have to say that both sides had a good turnout for the match and each had some showing of students. However, nothing close to the turnout that was at Lakeside on Friday. Did learn that Hot Springs students were able to attend the matches  Thursday and Friday like Lakeside. Think that might become the norm for the host teams if it is not already. 

Everyone already knows that Hot Springs won the match 3-2. My question, was that the typical style of play from the South? The match was an extremely direct style of play that kept the field stretched 60 yards between last defenders on average, most of the match with very little midfield play. As the ball was played to the forwards as soon as possible. At times the match reminded me of a John McEnroe vs Jimmy Connors match, including the attitude, as the ball was kicked from one end of the field to the other and neither team maintaining any possession. Not familiar with the South and the style of play in the conference was this a typical match? If it was, I can understand why the teams in the south beat up on each other or why DeQueen has been the dominate team in the south. When I seen DeQueen play in the past and watched them this year against Catholic, they play a possession style.

Now can Valley View beat Hot Springs? Have not seen VV play but from the south conference and the tournament results. Would say yes Valley View has a good chance. Should be a very good match.         

[sevenof400]

I'll offer this observation on Hot Springs (and please read this carefully)...

When we saw Hot Springs earlier in the year (and they beat Vilonia 5-0), I was not impressed with them because the competition we offered really did not demand much from them.  That however was early in the year and Hot Springs has (over the last few seasons anyway) been Dr. Jekyll in March, only to revert to Mr. Hyde in May. 

Over the past few seasons, I've never understood how Hot Springs pulls this off year after year, but to their credit they do.  Are they assisted by this in playing in the 5A South?  Undeniably.  The demands of their conference almost guarantee the Trojans will get better as the conference season progresses because there are four solid teams in the South.  (Not to disparage White Hall, but Hot Springs, HS Lakeside, DeQueen and Hope each have made considerable noise in the postseason at various times over the last decade or so).   

When you extend the previous fact with the reality that Hot Springs can enter each season pretty much assured of a post season berth, it really doesn't matter that much if you finish 1st, 4th or anywhere in between because your team will enter post season play confident of what it can do.  Hot Springs has established that trend over the recent five (or so) years and deserves all the accolades it receives for accomplishing this. 

To be clear, the Trojans currently have (and have had in the past) some very good players.  The coaching staff too deserves credit for getting the team ready for the post season each year.  I think there are a combination of factors at play here that are very valuable to the four teams of the 5A South (mentioned above) that are impossible to replicate in any other 5A conference.  Hot Springs deserves credit for taking full advantage of the hand it has been dealt and making the most from it.   

I also think that to a larger extent, this begins to explain the success of the 5A South Boys.

[Sir Alex]

The success of the 5A South is based on the same thing the success of the 7A West is based upon as well as a some of the traditional powers of the 4A and 6A.   Talent from a population enriched in soccer culture.  There are some exceptions, with those usually having outstanding coaching that helps compensate for a lack of the population.  In has come to the point that it is a struggle in boys high school soccer to compete if you do not have a Hispanic population to pull players.  I think that about sums it up.  From what I have seen, it has been great for Arkansas high school soccer.

[Lionheart88]

I wouldn't say that the south is entirely "Kick and rush", but the teams definitely can and will throw their athleticism around.  And there's a lot of it to go around in south Arkansas.  Consider that of the three South teams in the semis, only one (Lakeside) has a demographic makeup and location that lends itself to a lot of club ball.  DeQueen and Hot Springs (and Hope too) are basically relying on kids that grew up playing soccer's equivalent of street ball.  That's going to lend itself to simpler offenses.  Possession-heavy styles take far more coaching and structured practice.  Not taking anything away from the coaches at any of those schools, they've done excellent jobs, but those kids are as good as they are because they grew up with a ball at their feet, rather than because of years of classic, ODP, tournaments, and so on.

But yeah, the South is incredibly deep.  White Hall would probably make the playoffs in the East or Central without much trouble.  I know they're looking forward to the realignment next year.

[JMBknvc]

I wouldn't say that the south is entirely "Kick and rush", but the teams definitely can and will throw their athleticism around.  And there's a lot of it to go around in south Arkansas.  Consider that of the three South teams in the semis, only one (Lakeside) has a demographic makeup and location that lends itself to a lot of club ball.  DeQueen and Hot Springs (and Hope too) are basically relying on kids that grew up playing soccer's equivalent of street ball.  That's going to lend itself to simpler offenses.  Possession-heavy styles take far more coaching and structured practice.  Not taking anything away from the coaches at any of those schools, they've done excellent jobs, but those kids are as good as they are because they grew up with a ball at their feet, rather than because of years of classic, ODP, tournaments, and so on.

But yeah, the South is incredibly deep.  White Hall would probably make the playoffs in the East or Central without much trouble.  I know they're looking forward to the realignment next year.

After looking at the 5A & 6A Classification District thread http://www.fearlessfriday.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=141690.0 It does not look like White Hall is leaving the 5A South, but maybe even hurt by playing in the new "5A/6A Division 5". Where they will be playing Benton, LR McClellan, LR Mills, Pine Bluff, Sheridan, and Watson Chapel (if they have soccer programs). Then having to go to the 5A South Conference Tournament to see which teams move on to the 5A State Tournament. Further discussion on this topic should probably be in the above thread. 

[Lionheart88]

Mills, McClellan, and Pine Bluff (and even Sheridan, really) will be a nice change of pace during the regular season.  That's the point I was making.

[ninjafighter]

Looking forward to watching this matchup tomorrow at 12

[VHSCoach2]

Hot Springs 4 (60', 73', 75', 80'), Valley View 2 (24', 63') - final

WHAT A MATCH!

Sloppy ending as some red cards come out for a scrum at the very end of the game.

[FutbolPhan]

Red cards on Valley View?

[VHSCoach2]

I believe one on each side.

[chaoslord]

One from each and a fan jumped the rail

[sevenof400]

One from each and a fan jumped the rail

Hopefully the fan was arrested..