Carroll County Rivalry: Bobcats take control early vs. Tigers

Bragging rights for Carroll County boys high school soccer belong to the Berryville Bobcats.

The Bobcats defeated Green Forest 3-1 Monday, March 13, at the Berryville Sports Complex.

Berryville coach Grant Hutson said he was impressed with his team’s performance, especially defensively.

“The pressure that we had was incredible,” Hutson said. “Our guys were extremely motivated to play that game.This is the best I’ve seen us play, which is what we’ve been looking for all year.

Berryville jumped out to a 3–0 lead before halftime.

Jesus Monroy scored the Bobcats’ first goal on a free kick about 15 minutes into the first half, then David Tapia weaved his way through the Green Forest defense and scored about 10 minutes later. Juan Perez made it 3-0 on a header off a corner kick.

“The three guys that we’re relying on stepped up big time in that game,” Hutson said.

Green Forest coach Adam Richter said he was disappointed with the Tigers’ performance in the first half.

“We weren’t able to pass the ball the way we usually do, and Berryville took advantage of that,” Richter said.

Two Green Forest players were issued red cards in the second half, which left the Tigers with nine players on the field against 11 for Berryville. Still Richter said his team played better after the break.

“I was much more impressed with our second-half performance even though we were down two players,” he said. “The team found the energy we needed and were able to hold our ground, scoring once in the second half. We were disappointed that we had our first loss of the season but I think we grew from the experience.”

Hutson said the Bobcats were excited over the victory.

“It’s a lot to build on,” Hutson said. “The kids really were motivated to play against Green Forest because it’s such a big rivalry.”

The day after its victory over Green Forest, Berryville traveled to Bentonville to take on Class 6A Bentonville West. The Wolverines won, 7-0, but Hutson said Berryville was competitive for most of the game despite being exhausted from its game against Green Forest.

“We were so gassed, but our kids played extremely well for about 70 minutes,” Hutson said. “Through the first 70 minutes it was 1-0. We had a lot of opportunities to tie it or even have a chance to win. And then the last 10 minutes of the game we had three players go down with just nagging injuries because they played back-to-back days and they ended up scoring three goals in the last 10 minutes. So the final score didn’t look nearly as close as the game was from our perspective.”

All three of Berryville’s losses so far this season have come against Class 6A schools. Hutson said there is a reason the Bobcats are facing tough competition early in the season.

“What we’ve been trying to do this year is get these kids prepared,” he said. “We want to be able to play up to opponents’ levels. I believe playing these 6A teams has gotten us a lot better. Our prices are a lot. The openings that we see are a lot more difficult against those 6A schools that have been training and training and training to close out the gaps. And so it’s obviously a lot more precise with how we play. Playing these big schools is helping us improve immensely getting ready for conference play. You don’t get much out of playing a team and beating them 10-0. You get a lot out of playing a competitive game against a superior team.”

Green Forest bounced back just fine from the loss, defeating Lincoln 2-0 in the Tigers’ conference opener on Wednesday, March 14. Moo Htoo and Izaak Merida scored goals for Green Forest.

Green Forest senior Izaak Merida uses his head in the Tigers’ game against Lincoln on Wednesday, March 15. (Rob Kerby photo)

“I was highly impressed with their performance,” Richter said. “I think we found our pace during this game. Lincoln played very well. I have high expectations for this season if we can keep the same pace and energy I saw during our game against Lincoln.”

Green Forest senior Izaak Merida uses his head in the Tigers’ game against Lincoln on Wednesday, March 15. (Rob Kerby photo)