WIN: 3-2 vs CC United – School Was In Session As Badgers Teach Teens Life Lessons

This week’s Sunday morning brought a trip to the beautiful, plush, well groomed fields of NEMP for an 8am showdown with CC United and their new strange, orange camo kits.

Cameron Road welcomed back Jeff Z for his first summer action, were thankful that Jefe survived several golf course related incidents Friday morning, and even caught wind of a 7:45 Peterson arrival following his newly created “non-drinking-Saturday-Night” tradition.

Upon arrival to field 1 at NEMP the players were greeted with one goal at the half line, and craters in the field that would even swallow up Chappy’s bunion like a whale shark consuming mouthfuls of plankton. The decision was made to trek over to field 5 for a better experience. Good call as the pitch was nestled within a tree line and soccer ball eating bog.

With three subs at their disposal, but no young guns, Cameron Road would have to rely on the gray matter in between the ears to get the job done, as CC United brought a full line change of teenagers to supplement the old folks. Clever.

The pitch was gigantic. No shortened summer fields at NEMP. And like a couple of teenagers in the back seat of their mother’s Honda Accord, both teams were trying to feel each other out in the opening 15 minutes. CC probably had more of the ball, but the Badgers scored with a trademark fast break that saw Derek whip a ball across the box from the right for Matt to poke home from close range for a shocking early lead!

That’s when CC made the call to “bring in the kids!” as 4 or 5 feisty kids with energy to burn came into the game.

The kids were full of running and shooting, and they were coming at the Badgers in waves. Cameron Road was struggling to get the ball up to Matt and Derek, and were in full defensive mode for most of the remainder of the first half (although Nick was not impressed with their weight-related snap attempts). Peterson did manage a shot slightly off target as chants of “USA, USA” emerged from the sidelines in honor of the ladies penalty shootout woes earlier in the morning.

It was great to have Jeff Z back in the lineup, but his slide tackle was not quite up to Big Dave standards on one attack, but he did manage to get just enough of the ball to force it wide.

However, CC was starting to wear down the Badgers and managed to grab two goals from many shots to go up 2-1 a the half. It was looking like it might be a struggle the rest of the way for Cameron Road.

Oranges in the shade.

But if anyone knows the Honey Badgers, the really don’t start to not give a shit until they’re down by a goal or two, and in the second half they started to slowly grind the ball down to the other end of the pitch and tighten up at the back.

Cameron Road was able to carve out a few chances, but nothing really on frame. Right before the water break, Peterson and Jefe had a discussion about the pluses and minuses of one-touch passing that spilled over to the sidelines. That heat just might have been the catalyst to burn up CC in the final 30 minutes with skillful play, a bit of luck as CC hit the crossbar, and adult ingenuity.

First up, the Badgers worked the ball down into enemy territory and after a cutback or three, Derek was in prime position to slam home a trademark shot from the top of the box to tie the score up at 2-2.

The teens were giving the Badgers all they could handle though, and after one got around Billy on the byline, he was forced to give him a bit of a Scottish toe-tap which resulted in a p/k for the youngster.

Then the mind games began in earnest, as Conor schooled the boy in pre-kick banter as he stepped up to take the kick.

BAM!!! Jaybone saves it as he was able to dive to his right and push it off the bar! Crisis averted!

After that, like a matinee showing of Beverly Hills Cop, the heat was on! The kids were getting frustrated, and the grown ups were finding out how Cameron Road’s own Professor Snape worked his Dark Arts as tempers flared.

The CC Mom’s in attendance almost had to call Child Protective Services as Jefe took one of the kids out of action on the sidelines. The CC captain got carded for going karate kid on Brian Parks.

Conor served up Pete with a great cross that he headed, but it was a bandana away from dropping in the net. Peterson’s first time ball (yes, Jeff, it was a first time ball!) allowed Adam to have a pop at goal. The Badgers were on the attack!

While Matt was busy doing “Matt stuff” in his cerebral warfare campaign, he went hard-charging for a ball towards goal which somehow took a deflection off the defender, and back into his foot to ram home the winning goal! The defender was inconsolable as Matt ran towards him to celebrate…..err….. as he ran towards the CRU sideline to celebrate…. sending the defense into a frenzy as they couldn’t compete with Badgertown’s taunts. “You guys never did anything against me when I was in the game!” cried the bewildered CC defender…. too bad they had to play with 11 and not just him.

After that, the CC spirit was broken, and Professor Snape put the final nail in their coffin as he basically went full Larry David and annoyed the CC Captain into a second yellow and straight up trip to the showers.

One of CRU’s final attacks saw Conor make a 30 yard run with the ball in space and whipped it over to Derek on the opposite side of the pitch, but Sweet D’s “shot” was aimed more at the bathroom pavilion than the goal.

After the game, CC’s Captain was hot and talking nonsense towards Adam, but there was no need for another human belt as things calmed down. Great win against a stacked opponent with lots of young legs!

Man-of-the-Match: Lots of contenders here. Jaybone saved a penalty. Matt had two goals. But Derek came back into the lineup after several weeks off and provided instant offense with the early assist and tying goal. Nice work from the Cutback Kid.

Post-Game: Another classic post-game in the shade of the trees. With his two goal performance, Matt was treated to a $5 ice cream from the Cameron Road slush fund as they watched the ladies of Austin FC take on the ladies of Juve. No icings to report.