Firecrackers Taste Sweet Success

2 June 2008

David Ahlgren

A few years back, a virtual unknown was playing semi-pro soccer in Europe… not really anyone of note-except that he hustled.  Pro teams started seeing how hard he tried, then all of a sudden he found himself  playing in the World Cup Finals.  Now Bayern Munich is paying him their highest salary on record.  All this, because he never gives up, and he never lets up.  He could have—he was in a bad car accident when he was young the left rather large scars across his face.  He didn’t though.  He dug down deep.  If you could bottle all 300 Spartans up into one soccer player, Franck Ribery would be that guy.

That’s how the Firecrackers decided to play on May 31^st.  After starting the season with a loss, they had to dig deep all season.  Firecrackers always go out with a bang, though.  A team consensus of excitement built up all week as the team planned their strategy and how the game would play out.  Ribery would be the inspiration for their actions on the field.  Everyone was to play hard; but to play clean, everyone was to expend all energy and sub out, and the defense was to not allow shots while the offense was tasked to wear down the defense, pressure the backs, and score early.  A fairly simple game plan, but could they stick to it?

Only missing Justin, the Firecrackers got to the field early and had a nice warm up and jog any jitters out.  A quick team meeting in the locker room affirmed that they would play hard and play fair.  Then, with the referees, the fans, and the other team waiting, the Firecrackers took the field.

The whistle blew and the scoreboard clock started counting down.  Immediately, the Firecrackers had the Oldcastle Minotaurs on their heels.  The fast play of the artificial field combined with the ferocity of play from the Firecrackers resulted in a goal, 15 minutes into the game.  Midfielder Jesse Tarango took a throw-in from Antonio that was deflected through and caught the goalkeeper off of his line, as he chipped the ball over his head.  This was no easy task, considering the Minotaur keeper was well over 6’4”.  The crowd went wild, and the Firecrackers took a 1-0 lead.

The defensive 7 took control and never relinquished it.  Led by Paul Basanese, Antonio, Steve, Aram, Luis, Garret and Sturges rotated through and kept the ball out.  Except for a couple slight mishaps, they kept Paul bored for pretty much the whole game.  Most of the time, a bored goalie is a great thing.  They kept their composure by not allowing people to have unobstructed shots.  They kept everyone marked at all times, and most of all, they didn’t give up the ball while on defense.  That is a big part of how teams win close games—it can come down to who makes the fewest mistakes.  With the defense we have, we have managed to keep those to a very small minimum.

The midfield 6 also made great transitions.  There were points in the game where we strung together 6, 7, 8 passes in a row.  That is such a great accomplishment, and really strengthens the core of the team.  Ralph, and John, Sr., the patriarchs of the team, played like they were no strangers to pressure.  They didn’t back down from people half their age.  At one point, John, sr. beat one defender, and then played a give and go, which led to him crossing a dangerous ball in front of the net.  Ralph, very much taking the Ribery attitude, was able to track down his man after the Firecrackers lost possession.  Not a big deal—it’s expected, but Ralph ran 60 yards to close his man down and help prevent anything coming from a fast break from the Minotaurs.

The four forwards kept rotating and kept scoring.  Before the first half had ended, the Firecrackers kept pounding the Minotarus’ defense and Dave was able to score after taking a half-volley from his chest.  There must have been 6 Firecrackers in the box at that point.  .44 Magnum and Gonzo started the show off and really threw the defense for a loop.  They hustled and hustled, not giving their opponents any room to breathe.  In the second half, they had a string of passes that had the crowd cheering as they broke through the defense.  Look out Ronaldo!  It was really cool to watch.

The rest of the second half really flew past.  Once the Minotaurs were on their heels, they never were able to take advantage of some of their really good players.  One could sense their frustration as the clock started to tick down.

With only minutes left, Dave and Johnny played a give-and-go-and-cross in front of the home crowd.  It was fun to hear the “Ooooh’s” from the crowd with each pass.  After the cross bent nicely in and John’s shot went barely wide of its mark, the fans really cheered the Firecrackers on.  The ensuing goal kick went right to Dave, and before the four defenders were able to take defensive positions, he had finished the ball into the net to seal the game.

Moments later, the final whistle blew and the Firecrackers had done it!  They had stuck to their game plan and finished the season as CHAMPIONS!!!

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