FAYETTEVILLE -- The boys soccer rivalry between Russellville and Siloam Springs added another historic chapter Friday afternoon in another state championship game.
Wesly Robinson's goal in the 34th minute proved to be the game's only tally as Russellville defeated Siloam Springs 1-0 in the Class 5A Boys State Championship before a large crowd at Razorback Field on the campus of the University of Arkansas.
"I'm just doing whatever I can to help this team," said Robinson, who was named the game's MVP. "They're an amazing team. They put out a great effort every time. All I had to do was use my body against that one guy and get a sweet left-footed shot to win the game for us."
The victory was the fifth state championship for the Cyclones, who won 6A titles in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2018 under coach Jared Fuller.
It's the fourth time in the last five years that Russellville and Siloam Springs have played each other for the state title, with Russellville coming out on top three of the times.
"Man, that was one of the most intense finals I've been in, from the start whistle," said Russellville head coach Jared Fuller, who won his fifth title as Cyclones coach. "It's always like that the last 20 minutes, but from the start whistle we were back and forth."
Russellville (19-4-1) came out the aggressor from the opening whistle and put a pair of shots on goal early that Siloam Springs goalkeeper Wyatt Church was able to save.
Church didn't have a chance though on Robinson's rocket with 6 minutes, 28 seconds remaining in the first half.
Robinson took a pass from Andres Rincon and went with his left foot for an upper 90 shot to the right side.
"Wesly to his credit, we talked about it all week, he loves his left foot," said first-year Siloam Springs coach Luke Shoemaker. "He kept trying to get it on it, and he hit a heck of a shot. That's a special shot."
Meanwhile, Russellville's goalkeeper Jorge Mendoza made a pair of saves in the first half to keep the Panthers (18-6) off the scoreboard.
Mendoza stopped Eli Jackson on a shot midway through the first half, and then he stuffed Franklin Cortez on a one-on-one in the 38th minute just before halftime.
"In the first half we had two really good chances," Shoemaker said. "Eli puts one on the keeper and Franklin in the box puts one on the keeper. So we had our chances. Sometimes it's all about whose chance falls."
Russellville outshot Siloam Springs 10-3 in the first half, but the match evened up in the second half as the Panthers began to apply more pressure on the Cyclones' side of the field. Russellville wound up outshooting Siloam Springs 16-9 for the match.
"We came out in the first half and you could tell our touch wasn't there," Shoemaker said. "I don't know if it was nerves. It wasn't our best soccer. They kind of dominated play. In the second half, we talked about, we've got to press. We have to get more numbers forward. We had opportunities. We had the ball in the final third a lot. It's just finding the right opportunity. In the final third we didn't necessarily make the best runs as a group, nor did we pass and make the final ball as well as we could have as a group."
Siloam Springs defeated Russellville twice in the regular season -- 2-1 at Russellville on April 2 and 1-1 (3-1 PKs) in Siloam Springs on May 1. This time around though, the Panthers did not have senior all-state midfielder Christian Marroquin, who broke his left foot in the final meeting with the Cyclones on May 1.
"I have a lot of respect for Siloam's program," Fuller said. "To be able to switch coaches and not lose a step and met us right back here in the finals is amazing. I have a lot of respect for what Lukas is doing there. I know they have a hurt player (Marroquin), but they still gave us everything they had and it was a fantastic win for us.
"First time we played Siloam, we had a hurt defender (Jared Ceballos), so once he got healthy that really helped a lot. And then this second half, that was kind of the game plan. We're up a goal, let's stick an extra guy back there and make that space is a little harder to get into."
Mendoza and Church both went the distance in goal for Russellville and Siloam Springs, respectively, with Mendoza making four saves and Church making two.
Typically, the Cyclones have played two keepers -- Mendoza and Weston Shasteen in a rotation -- but they stuck with Mendoza on Friday, mostly because of his stuff of Cortez late in the first half.
"Huge on the one-on-one," Fuller said. "Jorge Mendoza and Weston Shasteen, they've been fighting for that position all year. And because they were fighting it out, it made both of them better in the long run. So we had the strongest two sets of any keepers. ... Because Jorge made that save, he had the momentum and he had the confidence we wanted to stick with him."
It was a tough loss for the Panthers to swallow, but Shoemaker couldn't fault their effort Friday.
"The MO all season is they play hard for me," he said. "Proud of them. They gave a fantastic effort against an incredibly talented team with a lot of guys that are going to play at the next level. Just at the end of the day the score wasn't in our favor."
Sports on 05/19/2019