Badgers Sink South Austin To Close Out The Season With A 3-1 Victory
A storm was brewing yesterday. With a lightening strike of goals and a thunderous defense performance, Cameron Road United closed out their 2016-2017 season with a workmanlike victory against South Austin FC. The Punters tied ATX earlier in the day, so the Honey Badgers knew a win was a must to reign supreme as Clark Field Champions – a highly coveted title sought after by Dragons, Punters and Badgers alike.
An erie cloud cover hung over the unusually chilly pitch as the Badgers assembled in a tentless Badgertown. Ciro was cold (but would be much much colder after the game…. more on that later). 2.5 subs were on the sidelines, as BT again donned his perfectly manicured kit, but was waiting on Pat’s late-braking medical report to be flown in from H-Town on his private chopper.
The Honey Badgers started off the game in full control. The passing game was on, and the Badgers controlled the ball for large chunks of time. Adam and Billy were especially busy down the right flank. Adam was like a mosquito with cleats, buzzing around South Austin’s players winning balls, which afforded Billy the opportunity to push forward and get more involved in the attacking play like a Scottish Danny Alves.
At the back, Big Dave and the Little Brothers took some time off from their ACL Live taping to hold Jay’s would-be attackers in check.
The first goal was always coming for Cameron Road, and it was some nice attacking play down the right that netted the results. Derek got the ball deep on a break, and after a few thousand cutbacks to thoroughly demoralize his defender, he whipped in a cross to the back post where Andy was making a run. Andy side footed the ball into the back of the net for the opening goal of the game.
The Honey Badgers doubled their lead shortly after as Ciro did his best Chappy sliding shot impersonation to rob Chappy from his own goal. The irony was deep. Big Dave dropped a long throw in from the left side which took a hop in front of Chappy. As the ball rose, the Bald Dome of Power flicked it backwards as the keeper charged out to cover it. Following the path of the ball as it was rolling into the back of the net, Ciro sprinted to it and sized up his opportunity to “help” the ball reach it’s destination, much to Chappy’s cries of “DON’T TOUCH IT!!” But touch it he did, Chappy’s goal turned into an assist, Dave’s assist turned into a good throw in, and the Honey Badgers lead turned into two goals.
New Chris also arrived late in the first half to add some defensive oomph to the squad.
Halftime was, well, pleasant. The opponent was fairly nice. The referee wasn’t causing any problems. The oranges were delicious, and Cameron Road seemed in total control.
The medical report came back inconclusive, so BT gave it a go up top for 15 minutes before returning to his customary beer-drinking spot on the sidelines.
South Austin had themselves a new tank-topped keeper for the half, and his tip over the bar saved them from a dubious on-goal as Adam’s cross was headed back towards the net by one of their own defenders.
The final nail in South Austin’s coffin came from another break as Andy delivered a beautiful cross to Jake, who leaped up and side-foot-volleyed the ball past the keeper. It was awesome.
Sure, sure, South Austin nabbed a goal back off a corner kick that narrowly squeezed in at the back post, and the referee called the game with 8 minutes left due to lightning strikes, but there was never any doubt that the Honey Badgers would take all three points.
The post game was cut short due to some serious cloudage and lightning headed their way, but it didn’t stop Chappy from dumping an abusively large portion of ice into Ciro’s lap. The last sight of the day was of Jay striding towards the treeline to pay his respects for a job well done on the season.
Man-of-the-Match: Ciro stole Chappy’s goal, so he’s out. How about a trifecta for Andy. 1) Goal 2) Assist 3) He brought both jerseys, blue shorts and red socks. Nice!
