Two first-half goals helped the Northside Grizzlies on their way to a conference championship.

The Grizzlies claimed the outright 7A-Central title on Friday with a 4-0 win against crosstown rival Southside at Jim Rowland Stadium.


Northside, after starting conference play 2-1, ended up with 11 straight wins to end the regular season.

In addition, the Grizzlies (19-2, 13-1) wrapped up the conference’s No. 1 seed at next week’s 7A State Tournament, which Northside will host at Mayo-Thompson Stadium. Northside drew a bye in the opening round and will play on Friday, May 12 in the 7A quarterfinals against the winner between the No. 4 seed from the 7A-West and the No. 5 seed from the 7A-Central in a match set for 10 a.m.

The Grizzlies entered Friday’s match one game up on Little Rock Catholic for the 7A-Central lead. Catholic had been the only team to defeat the Grizzlies in conference play all season.

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But Northside continued its winning ways in the regular-season finale.

The Grizzlies got on the board near the midway point of the first half as Jose Paredes took a quick shot into the net. Less than three minutes later, Kareem Ihmeidan delivered a shot from nearly 15 yards out into the upper right corner of the net, staking the Grizzlies to a 2-0 advantage.

Northside made it 3-0 with less than 22 minutes left after Southside committed an own-goal.

Freshman Christian Chavez made it 4-0 when he scored with less than 15 minutes remaining.

The Mavericks (10-12, 5-8) are still in the mix for a seed at the state tournament. Southside will have one more regular-season match left, a makeup at home Monday against North Little Rock.

Southside 3, Northside 0

GIRLS SOCCER – The Mavs scored early in Friday’s 7A-Central match and then added a pair of second-half goals in the win.

Southside (14-7, 8-5) got on the board several minutes in on a goal from Dianna Gurrero off a feed from teammate Hannah Schmidt.

Then in the second half, the Mavs increased their advantage. Landrie Waganer scored off an assist from Kelly Carson, while Nancy Mendoza had the final goal off a penalty kick.

The Mavs will play at home Monday in a makeup match against North Little Rock.

Northside finished the season 1-13 in conference play.
