Summer Game #2 – Cameron Road Back On Track With Big Win Against Da’Bears

Summer game #2 was a welcome 8am respite from the Texas heat, although it was still humid and sticky like the inside of one of Jaybone’s gloves. Speaking of Jaybone, with Nolan (a.k.a. The Kid) still between the pipes, Jay got a kickstart to his summer minutes in the open field as he was one of the 17 Badgers that showed up to face Da’Bears.

Unlike last week, Da’Bears were not a group of 20 teenagers, but they looked a formidable opponent stocked with 30-somethings, and some rather large ones at that. But fear not, with a bunch of full time Honey Badgers and a few part timers, the sideline was stocked with talent to get the job done.

The dynamic duo of Conor and Matt showed up fashionably late, although Matt was smoking his favorite wizard pipe and mentioned that “a Matt is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to with bed-head hair.” Fair enough. Conor was initially seen wearing the absolute smallest jersey he could find trying to look like a young Billy Elliot – which was later replaced by the ghost of Steve McKenna’s #19. (which coincidentally was left at the field like a red-haired Punter stepchild and luckily retrieved by Jefe – that’s gonna require a tub of mango salsa and popsicles at the next game to rectify such a flagrant abuse of CRU property!) Now Cameron Road waits for Scotty to make his summer debut and complete the TINY TRIDENT alongside Derek and Ciro.

During the opening moments of the game, it seemed as though some on Da’Bears were more interested in foraging for wild tomatoes deep in the tree line than defending as the Honey Badgers got to attacking their goal. Their boisterous Brazilian keeper was no match for the waves of attacks from the likes of Andy, Gianluca and Derek though. Gianluca was first up to bulge the net with a brilliant display of attacking prowess as he drifted with the ball across the box from left to right looking for an opening. He kept drifting, heard Conor scream ” SHOOT IT!!” and then drifted a little more as he finally found the window to rifle home his shot to the far post opening the scoring for Cameron Road. Brilliant goal.

Early in the game, Chappy took notes on Jefe’s defensive positioning as Jeff was making nice moves with the ball at his feat. Chappy had also been stung by a wasp the day before in his right leg – one of the side effects being a lack of speedy retreats into defensive territory (look it up, it’s legit RFK medical science!!) – so he was glad to have Jeff behind him to mop up any messes.

With fans in the stands, Andy continued to terrorize defenses from the left wing and get into dangerous spots. His absolute rocket of a shot was headed to the top corner if not for a leaping save from Da’Bears keeper. Pretty great shot and save.

With Peterson nursing his multiple injuries from being iced the previous week, Schwarzy headed the call and provided his usual no-nonsense, professional central midfield gamesmanship alongside Ciro. Conor and Matt also both got into the game in the middle of the park making it tough sledding for Da’Bears. Through in a few great saves from Nolan and it was looking pretty positive for the Honey Badgers.

Speaking of Matt, nearing the end of the first half he conducted a rather precocious throw in maneuver which Da’Bears did not approve of, but Shawn the referee saw no issues with. His throw went to Derek, who one-timed it Andy would ran towards goal. There might have been some back and forth between Matt again before Andy unleashed an unstoppable shot that smashed off the inside of the post and past the keeper to put the Honey Badgers up 2-0 at the half.

Oranges and Jake was yelling at gravity as well as his friends.

Try as they might, Da’Bears could not get back into Da’game, despite their best efforts and athleticism. Adam and Matt were conjuring up dark arts, frustrating the opponents. Andy was looking for his next goal. Nolan was enjoying not having to have his grill peppered with shots like last weekend. Guillermo was back for his first summer action and slotted right into his central defensive leadership position, with Chris G doing Chris G stuff all over the pitch. It was shaping up to be a dominate performance.

With a flick of the ball through the center of the park, Conor sent Andy skipping past his defender and one-on-one with the keeper…. there was only going to be one outcome as Andy calmly slotted it home to the delight of his female admirer who put down the Honey Badger Christmas sweater she was crocheting at just the right moment to see the glorious goal.

At 3-0 the game was basically over, even though Da’Bears managed to score a consolation goal near the end of the 90 minutes.

Little Ciro had the biggest defensive play at the end of the game as he bravely set up deep behind Honey Badger lines to thwart a would-be shot on goal with a well timed tackle.

And just like that, the Honey Badgers are back in the race for summer soccer domination!

Man-of-the-Match: Andy has become a bit of a summer monster for CRU as he netted another two goals with some additional rocket shots at goal. Somebody get that kid a 40 year old fake ID!

Post-Match-Report: The Badger Den was abuzz with post-game jubilation. Jefe continued his slow-drip icings. All was well.