Firecrackers Saturday score 3 late goals to maintain perfect record

It was a typical day in the life of the team formerly know as the Chavelas.  Half of the team was gone, others went to wrong fields, but the real clincher was the field.  The plentiful rains had caused the grass to grow, and grow it had.

Eighty percent of the field was covered in a long grass-like plant.  What was different was the grass was at near a foot long.  You might scoff as you read this, but that must be because you weren't there.  The ball was hidden at times as it nested in the middle of the field.  Pete was tripped up, and for a moment, I lost track of him as he lay in the grass.  It was near impossible to kick the ball in any way, because if you passed it, the ball would roll maybe five feet.  If you chipped the ball, you would kick a footfull of grass, and the ball would barely move.  Dribbling was a joke.

The game started out as any other.  Within ten minutes or so, an injured Sean Stonehouse finished off a corner kick by poking it into the upper V with his toe.  1-0 Firecrackers, no big deal.  But then the wheels got a little shaky--they didn't fall off, but they got shaky.

A few minutes later, after a mis-clear turned into an own goal, the Cathcatians found themselves tied with the might Firecrackers.  This gave them confidence and they got lucky a couple more times to take a commanding 3-1 lead.

This was new ground for the Firecrackers, who, in the memory of this author had never been losing before (let alone by TWO goals), and left them puzzled at halftime.  The halftime chatter was still confident, and the players discussed a plan to retake the lead.  An extra defender was dropped back, and they would initiate a new kind of attack for the second half: play to the short grass.

It took a while for the plan to take effect, but with about 15 minutes left in the game forward David Ahlgren was taken down inside the box.  The defender executed what is known as a "scissor tackle", according to the ref, and Sean Stonehouse finished the pen to record his second goal of the day.  This was a welcome breath of life to the Firecrackers.

Amid yells of "EVERYONE STAY BACK AND DEFEND!!!" from the Cathcartian players, the Firecrackers kept pressing, and soon Stonehouse had recorded his first hat trick of the year.

Time was running out, and the Firecrackers kept the pressure high.  Using the short-grass method that they had learned worked so well, Stonehouse took a long pass and dribbled into the corner.  Quite effortlessly, he crossed the ball to Ahlgren who was waiting patiently for the full volley.  Gracefully, he put it past a diving keeper.

4-3 Crackers, but that wasn't the end.  Team Cathcart wasn't about to go down without one last punch toward the goal.  As the ball bounced around inside the Cracker goal box, it inadvertently hit one of the Firecracker defenders in the hand.  Normally, that's not going to be called a handball, but this late in the game, the drama of the situation required it.  The ref had no choice but to call a penalty kick.  And so it was down to a minute in regulation, the Firecrackers perfect record on the line, the win, the season...  Matt "Jens Lehmann" Favela stepped up to the line, quickly learned the Firecrackers Penalty kick trick, and played it like he normally did.  Just as Villarreal failed in their last minute penalty kick attempt to tie with Arsenal on Tuesday, so failed Cathcart.  But the shot was on frame, so it wasn't so much that Cathcart failed, as much as Matt succeeded.  That was it.  4-3 was the final.

The Firecrackers would like to congratulate Team Cathcart for giving us the best run for our money.  At no point in the history of the Firecrackers (formerly the Chavelas) did we ever find ourselves trailing by two goals.  The Firecrackers also had great individual effort from the defense, Ralph, Antonio and Aram, as well as outstanding efforts from an injured Stonehouse and John Basanese, Sr.  Pete even broke a few teeth that day--the true spirit of the Firecrackers... "Leave nothing on the field, unless it's your teeth."  Kudos to all!

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