De Queen defeating 5A-South opponents is commonplace, but the Leopards now have a habit of breaking Lakeside's heart.
Hugo Martinez netted his second goal of the match with 45 seconds left, leading the Leopards, state champions in six of the past seven seasons, to a 3-2 victory Tuesday night at Austin Field. They've defeated Lakeside nine times since elevated to Class 5A in the 2012-13 school year, the Leopards scoring the winning goal in the final two minutes in three of those games.
"This is tough because it's been tough all year," said Lakeside coach Craig Moses, whose team fell 5-1 last week at De Queen. "Getting beat 5-1 by them down there and getting beat 6-1 by Hot Springs, we're trying to find a way to crawl back in this conference. Winning that one and if we could've gotten a few breaks here and there, we might've taken second. But now we have to fight with Hope and White Hall for third. But if we keep fighting, we've had two teams in the past finish third place and reach the finals."
The loss hurts because the Rams (6-7, 1-3) had De Queen (10-3, 3-1) vulnerable. Leopard coach Steven Sloan received a red card in the 63rd minute for a verbal altercation with one of the two officials, and Lakeside took a 2-1 lead in the 70th minute on Philip Gayle's finish of a Russell Gartner free kick from just inside midfield.
The Leopards scored their first two goals on penalty kicks, answering Lakeside's lead in the same minute when the Rams were called for a hand ball in the box. Martinez netted the penalty shot, making it 2-2.
De Queen kept up the pressure from there until Martinez's winner from just outside of the box. Only with 30 seconds left in the 2013 regular-season finale in Sevier County has there been a later clincher in the all-time series.
"At least they showed me tonight that we can compete with them for 79 minutes and 15 seconds," Moses said. "We need to find that 80. If we can find that 80, we can be a tough team."
The Leopards struck first when Alejandro Lerma drew a foul inside the box in the fifth minute. David Gomez rifled home his shot from the spot, making it 1-0.
"They were both accurate," said Moses of the penalty decisions. "We handed the ball down here in the box. We're too old to be doing that. We got the guy in the back down here. It was two-man system. I don't know if that would've been a penalty in a three-man system, but the hand ball was no doubt. You never know about the first one, but with a two-man system, he made the best call he could."
Lakeside kept fighting back throughout the first half until Gartner served a long ball to Spencer Plumley just onside in the box. Plumley evaded the charging goalkeeper and slotted home the equalizer in the 31st minute.
Moses was pleased with Gartner's performance, recording a career-high two assists.
"Russell is one who has stepped up for us in every game this year," the Lakeside coach said. "He comes off the bench for us and gives us great minutes. He's really played his role this year and knows his role. He played some good minutes for us against Bryant the other night. He's coming along, and that's what we're hoping. He's just a sophomore. He's got two more years, but he's coming along and playing really nice."
The hard-fought game produced more than just Sloan's red card, which means he misses the home match with White Hall on Tuesday. Three De Queen players accrued yellow cards, and one Ram saw yellow.
De Queen outshot Lakeside 21-10, boosted by a 13-3 edge in the second half when its depth advantage became apparent. Lakeside keeper Ryan Viscardis finished with eight saves.
Lakeside hosts Pulaski Academy today. The Bruins eliminated the Rams in last year's 5A quarterfinals.
Sports on 04/14/2016