LOSS: 2-1 vs Travis FC – Honey Badgers See Red in Opening Day Loss

Three months off and the Honey Badgers kicked off their season with a tough loss on field 10 out at Onion Creek. The numbers were solid with four subs. Derek was back on the pitch, Chappy was still not ready to suit up and Ciro was (presumably) cold somewhere. New Brian, who is actually original Brian, suited up for the first time since 2007ish and did himself proud with a tidy performance as another long, lost Honey Badger has come home to the nest…. we will just work on those black shorts for next week.

The boys wanted to do something special for their fallen midfield maestro, Willis, and honor him with a win, but that will have to wait until next week.

The game started off well for Cameron Road as they shook off their winter rust and passed the ball around. On early pass went to the other team, and the Honey Badgers relied on Chris G’s blistering recovery pace as he chased down the opponent who was gifted a breakaway turnover in the Cameron Road half. There’s no substitute for speed, and Chris turned on the jets to save the day early on.

Ol’Schwarzy was getting a lot of time on the ball, patrolling the midfield with Peterson. Cameron Road was starting to get a grip on the game and carve out some chances. Peterson did well to send in a looping header to the back post from Brian Park’s first corner kick in 15 years, and Andy was oh-so-close after running onto a magnificent thru-ball from Schwarzy.

But unfortunately for Andy (who was already on a yellow card that probably shouldn’t have been given as he and a numpty from Travis FC collided on the sidelines), he made the mistake of going in hard with ye’ol studs up which earned him a second yellow card and a place on the sidelines to drink all Chappy’s beer. Tough break and Cameron Road was down to 10 men for the final 60 minutes.

On the pitch, Jefe was vocally making the formation changes known after making some nice runs into the offensive zone.

But with a bit of bad luck, Travis FC scored at the end of the first half with one of their only efforts to put the Badgers down 0-1.

Oranges.

Not to worry, as the Honey Badgers started to control the second half, even playing a man down. They passed the ball well, tried to get Gigi through on goal, and turned up the heat as they pressed to get back into the game.

Travis FC snuck in a second goal, and the Honey Badgers were forced to release the hounds and go for broke.

Nasty Nate was feeling his post-covid legs as the went for slide tackle after slide tackle. Some were more successful than others. He almost had the pass of the game as he zipped in a ball to Derek on the left side of the 18 yard box, but there was just a little too much zip to set Derek in against the keeper.

With a high line at the back, Jeff Z and Guillermo were trying to get the ball into the attackers as quickly as possible.

The Honey Badgers finally caught a break as Gigi was awarded a penalty kick for being chopped down inside the box, but the keeper guessed correctly, thwarting the tying celebration.

At the other end, Guillermo was busy saving a shot off the line, and Jaybone also made a great save to push another shot wide.

With only minutes remaining in the game, Cameron Road assembled troops outside the Travis FC box like it was the Ukraine border. Derek’s cross struck the keeper or a defender and the ball gleefully rolled into the back of the net for an own goal, putting Cameron Road back in the game for a dramatic comeback. Two minutes later, Peterson rocketed a ball off the crossbar and it agonizingly bounced off the ground right in front of goal. Would have been an amazing way to tie up the game, but it just wasn’t meant to be.

The Honey Badgers really did outplay their opponents, but it was just one of those funky days where things weren’t going their way. No worries, consider the rust knocked off and better days ahead.

Man-of-the-Match: From the opening moments, Brian Schwarz really was in control of the midfield and had himself a cracker in the middle of the park.

Post-Match-Report: Punters played to a boring 0-0 draw. Jefe’s broken toe “situation” was discussed. There were bees. And nobody left wet.

WHERE IS BILLY!!!?????