Pointers battling for No. 3 seed

As his team battles for the No. 3 spot in the 6A-West, Van Buren coach Nate Almond is pretty pleased with how the Pointers' remaining schedule turned out. Three of their last four games are against teams with losing records with Rogers Heritage, Springdale Har-Ber and Bentonville West. "We got a good part of our schedule coming up," Almond said. "It's hard to have a good part of the schedule when you play in this conference. There are no easy nights, but we're in a good stretch. We're poised to be right there in that 3-4 spot." Van Buren beat Heritage and Har-Ber the first time around but lost to West, 2-1, after the Pointers gave up a 1-0 lead and scored an own goal to lose the game. That's the one that haunts Almond the most. "That's disappointing. That's a game we had them beat 1-0, and we had a mistake on the back line -- a swing and a miss -- and a one-on-one with the keeper to tie it up," Almond said. "Then we scored an own goal to beat ourselves. That was a winnable game that we just let go of on the road." The loss started a three-game losing streak for the Pointers as they dropped from one of the top teams in the conference to the fourth-best in a span of a week and a half. The Pointers bounced back from the streak to win both of their games last week, beating Bentonville, 1-1, and Fayetteville, 4-1. The Pointers' 8-7 shootout win against Bentonville ended when freshman Fernando Romero drilled home the team's eighth penalty kick after the team's goalkeeper Chris Mendoza saved the only shot between both teams in the shootout. Romero was one of three freshmen along with Isaac Ochoa and Kylan Almond who shot three of the last four attempts for Van Buren. The main driver behind the team's success this year has been Isaac Delafuente who continued his dominant play this season with three goals against Fayetteville, giving him 29 total. The game was a nice rebound for Delafuente who went through a scoring drought during a The Rogers and West games. Van Buren will travel to play Rogers Heritage at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, and the girls' game will be played before the boys. The Pointers with then be back home against Har-Ber for their game at 5:30 p.m. Friday. The girls' game will come after them.

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Van Buren High School Athletics

POINTERS BATTLING FOR NO. 3 SEED

ALEX NICOLL

Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette | 4/23/2019

PHOTO CREDIT: Van Buren High School Athletics