One handball that wasn’t one. One that might have been 50/50.

Another that was completely missed.

When the dust settled before the drizzle turned to rain Friday in Conway, the Bentonville Tigers had punched their ticket to the 6A semifinals with a 4-3 win over the Northside Grizzlies.

The Tigers (15-6) play Springdale today for a shot in the state title match.

The Tigers’ Rodrigo Mouron cashed in on a second handball that might not have been, snapping a 3-3 tie with 19:08 left to play.

The Grizzlies, who had scored two late goals in the first half, were shut out in the final 40 minutes by the opportunistic Tigers.

“The first one (handball), we’re going to see it on the video, but it was outside the box,” Northside coach Mauricio Maciel said. “That changed the game. I think the first goal by us surprised them, and we were controlling the match after that. Then that PK is awarded to them, and that changes the game a little bit.”

Northside’s Luis Paredes stunned Bentonville with a goal just barely 90 seconds into Friday’s game. He stepped in front of a pass and beat two defenders while slipping one past keeper Evan Shanks.

Shanks had his moments in the first half, for sure. But he came up big in the final half.


Down 4-3, and without many chances, Northside had two golden opportunities in a span of three minutes to tie the game or go ahead. Shanks covered up a potential goal at the 15:56 mark.

Then, with 12:37 left, Paredes broke to his left, a step ahead of midfielder Elliott Nimrod. But, with just a slight opening, fired a shot wide left.

“In these games, they’re going to be tight, and those chances — if you don’t put them in they’re going to come back to haunt you,” Maciel said. “Hats off to him (Paredes) for being there, but that’s a chance that could have definitely tied it up and given us some momentum.”

Up 3-2 at the half, courtesy of two goals in the final six minutes of the first half, the Grizzlies lost their lead on Nimrod’s nice move and goal at the 52nd minute mark.

Then, more controversy.

Northside was called for a second handball in the 61st minute, allowing Mouron to tie it.

“They (officials) go by intention,” Maciel said. “Our player is running one way and the ball hits him — he’s not even looking at it. There was no intention.


“Calls like that can go either way.”

Bentonville coach Mike Devaney agreed.

“Absolutely,” he said. “Obviously, we were fortunate enough to get a couple of breaks there, but on the reverse of that, you’ve got to get into penalty to get those breaks in the first place. I thought we took advantage of those circumstances.”

Clinging to a one-goal advantage, the officials appeared to have missed a handball call with nine minutes left — allowing Northside to keep its hopes up.

But the Grizzlies weren’t able to cash in.

“We had a good season,” Maciel said. “I thanked my seniors. It was just one of those tight games that can go either way.”
