WIN: 3-2 vs Old Boys – Badgers Back on Track

It was a typical Texas weekend. Saturday was miserable and rainy, but Sunday was glorious, sunny with a chill in the air. So much of a chill at the wee hours of the morning that Jake turned up with a jet engine to keep everyone nice and toasty….. with the slight possibility of burning down the entire complex.

The Honey Badgers were without their newest duo of former Dragons, Nasty Nate and Guillermo, who were attending Zeke’s motivational and topical Ted Talk, “Ukraine, Poo Bear, The Honey Pot and You, How To Navigate Life’s Obstacles and Come Out With Sticky Fingers.”

Billy still remained missing, Andy was probably running into someone on a mountain bike ride, Jeff Z was using hydroponic lights to grow his beard out 4 inches in one day, and Adam was in Florida, hand picking the next batch of halftime oranges.

To fill up that space, Cameron Road welcomed back a few players who missed the previous week’s game including Chappy, Danimal and Ciro – two of which showed up in unsanctioned black undergarments. The third was (most likely) on a some sort of dog meds.

Cameron Road started off briskly, with Ciro stepping back into his midfield role, Danny back in defense, and Chappy over at right back. There were two subs to round out the match day squad. One of them was Jefe, who was still delirious from Austin FC’s opening day demolition and post-game hot tub soak. Let it be known that Chappy beat him to the field!

The Honey Badgers won the opening 10 minutes with some nice passing and attacks into the Ol’Boys half. Their hulking keeper was often 40 yards off his line, so it looked like he might be ripe for one of Gigi’s patented long-range bombs. But then the Ol’Boys started to pick up the pace and control the next 15 minutes, rattling a few shots off Jay’s crossbar and sending some balls into the treeline. They eventually found the right distance and put one into the back of the old Onion Bag for the opening goal of the game.

Not to worry sports fans, because that seemed to light a fire under Cameron Road.

With a few subs and changes, Chappy found himself back at his customary right wing position, and that’s when he and Gigi decided to go to work. Ciro played in Chappy deep on the right side of the box with a looping pass which the bunion snatched up, and crossed into the danger area down the middle of the box. After whizzing by a few defenders, Gigi ran it down and smashed it into the bottom corner. 1-1.

Not too long after that, the duo struck again, this time with Gigi hitting Chappy in the middle of the box. Chappy’s return pass found Gigi continuing his run and BAM…. goal number two and the Honey Badgers would never give up the lead.

Danimal’s booming goal kicks were back in play at the back, and after the scare of the opening goal, he, Chris, Big Dave and Jake were closing up shop in front of Jaybone.

New/Old Brian, took a pop at goal from a run inside the box as he saw more playing time. He was also trying to nurse his tweaked quad.

And as the half neared an end, Derek got on the board with a classy finish from the left side of the box as his initial shot was parried by the keeper, but Peterson got it right back to him to give the Honey Badgers a 3-1 lead at the half.

Oranges…. courtesy of Adam via Jay’s fridge from last week. Good thinking from the veteran keeper as those damn oranges were delicious.

As the second half kicked off, the Ol’Boys were determined to get back into the game. They were coming at the Badgers, but Ciro, Peterson and Schwarzy were holding down the midfield. The Honey Badgers were definitely on the defensive, but Schwarz found a way to have a vicious pop at goal that fizzed just wide.

About 70 minutes in, the Ol’Boys plucked another goal back, setting up a fight to the finish for the spoils. Some more lineup changes saw little Ciro shifting to the right wing with Chappy behind him in defense.

The last 10 minutes saw the Honey Badgers on the back foot as the Ol’Boys kept on attacking, but they were throwing it all back in their faces, sometimes with some absolutely smashing passing around the back to keep their opponents at bay that would have made Billy say “Aye”.

As the final whistle blew, the Honey Badgers had successfully soaked up all the pressure on their way to a 3-2 victory, putting them just 1 point out of first place at the top of the table.

Big matchup next week with the team in first, the Honey Badgers can ascend to the top spot with a victory.

Man-of-the-Match: Jake brought a jet engine to keep Ciro warm, which is all he needed to earn MOTM honors. He also played a lot of minutes in midfield and defense, and was only seen on the ground once…. ONCE!!