Derek Gutierrez scored the easiest goal of high school career Thursday night at Jim Rowland Stadium.

With the game well in hand, and the lock ticking down, Guitierrez had beaten Cabot goalie Luis Castro. With half a minute to play, Gutierrez stopped his momentum and flicked the ball backward through the net to cap a 5-2 win over the Panthers.


Southside (7-3, 2-1) played shutout soccer in the final 40 minutes.

"Right now we're sitting here at 7-and-3 and 2-and-1 in the conference," Gutierrez said. "We had a rough weekend last weekend (at Van Buren); we had three of our starters out. We had to move some people around, but we stuck it out."

Back at full strength, the Mavericks scored so fast Thursday it was hard to know if Cabot realized the match had started. Gutierrez scored the game's first goal at the 33:47 mark thanks to Eric Ramirez' nice pass.

It didn't take long to light the lamp on his second goal. Just a minute later he pushed one through at the 32:46 mark, again assisted by Ramirez, to give Southside a 2-0 lead.

"The first one I used my speed and he (Ramirez) put it where I liked it," Gutierrez said. "The second one I got, I used my speed again."

Cabot fought back quickly as sophomore Landon Miller scored at the 27:17 mark to cut the lead in half.

The Mavericks' Sydney Oliver set up Chris Orellana with a beautiful pass for the team's third goal. Oliver hit Orellana in stride as he swiftly kicked the ball past Castro for a 3-1 lead at the 23:26 mark of the first half.


But Cabot, again, responded when sophomore Cameron Sherman snuck through for a goal with 14 minutes to play in the half.

Junior goalie Kyle Denne then pitched a shutout in the final half with a series of outstanding saves.

"We're going into spring break with our heads up," Denne said. "We have a really good feeling about the rest of the season."

"Sometimes I don't understand how he can jump that high," Gutierrez said. "He was crazy good."

Southside added some insurance with under 20 minutes left when Jose Cerritos got free for a goal.

Cabot 6, Southside 3

GIRLS — The Southside Mavericks' girls squad suffered its first 7A-Central loss of the spring Thursday at the hands of powerful Cabot.


Tristyn Edgar scored two first half goals as Cabot (9-2, 3-0) cruised to a 6-3 win over the Mavericks in 7A-Central play. The Mavericks were without leading scorer Kelly Carson.

Caitlann Potter's goal gave Cabot a 1-0 lead with 29:06 left in the first half. Edgar scored the next to Panther goals, sandwiched between a pair of Southside goals by Morrea Kleck.

Maddison Hagan scored Southside's final goal. The Mavs (7-1, 2-1) return to action March 28 against North Little Rock.
