Summer Game #9 – Nolan Gets His Shutout To Close Out The 2025 Summer Season as Cameron Road Beats the Grackles 3-0!

The grand finale to the 2025 Summer Season was a proper summer game. The heat was intense, but thanks to Jake the Honey Badgers were blanketed in a cool spray of mist in the newly upgraded Badger Den.

Congrats to Matt, who was given a leave of absence to get married by CRU Management. He took Scotty and Pete with him, but the Honey Badgers were still in good shape with four subs available after some fashionably late arrivals, including the younger Andy.

With no central midfielders at the start of the game, Guillermo and Ruben took up the central positions with Chappy and Derek up top, fighting to see who would win the coveted summer offside crown.

Ruben was playing really well and distributing the ball, but it was Guillermo who helped open the scoring with a Dragon-to-Dragon ball down the right to Derek. Derek fired off a hard shot to the near post beating the keeper for an early 1-0 goal. No cutback required.

The Grackles, once they got all 11 players on the pitch, seemed to be a decent team, but they might have lacked the quality to go toe-to-toe with the all powerful Honey Badgers.

Two late arrivals got into the mix and provided some much needed drama. First up, Yunir slotted back into central midfield and began to do his thing, but just before the water break a sniper deep in the treeline nailed his foot with a slingshot, causing an on-field shoe removal. Luckily he was okay and able to return, but the man clearly needs some steel-toed cleats.

JAKE IS DOWN!!!!!

Conor, master of many trades including popsicles and salsa, nearly scored on a break away, but his first touch pushed the ball just out of proper shooting position.

At the back, Danny and Nolan were having some classic father and son interactions, and on the sidelines, the younger Clay cub was impressing Chappy with his arsenal of “kicks” and Game of Thrones stabbings from his foam Minecraft sword.

They both took joy in watching Danny unleash a Big Dave approved slide tackle, but then he should have run to the sidelines to self-pineapple from his trusty ziplock full of the precious mood stabilizing fruits.

Halftime was met with a fruit bonanza! Oranges, frozen cantaloupe, pineapple, and a bag of mushed berries that had no takers. The mist was on point.

The final half of the season was full of crowd-pleasing drama! Adam had cranked up the Dark Arts meter to 11. Ruben was torching folks down the left flank. Jake stayed momentarily upright on the right side. Original Andy was his usual battering ram self.

There was a five minute period where the Honey Badgers were battering the Grackle goal but somehow didn’t score, including a Derek double cutback.

But the play of the game came from Yunir as he became both Xavi and Iniesta at the same time as he double nutmegged two concesutive defenders inside the 18 yard box before getting the ball to Adam to ram home for goal number two. Amazing stuff. The Honey Badgers just need to keep his tiny toes attached to his foot for 90 minutes and good things will happen.

After that, it was a mad scramble to protect Nolan’s shutout and grab a few more goals for the glory. Nolan got a little help from the crossbar and his Dad with a thunderous clearance.

On the right, Chappy had a nice slide tackle pop-up, followed by a few actual soccer moves to advance the ball forward, much to everyone’s surprise.

The crowd roared with approval as Billy galloped in deep from defense and unleashed a vicious Paul Scholes-like rocket from 25 yards that would have burned a hole into the net except for a deflection. Conor tried and usual outside of the boot free kick from the left. Chris G nearly scored his first goal with a thunderous shot from the right. Good stuff was happening everywhere and Andy J was prowling for his first goal since his injury, while also praying that his 100 degree shift would end.

Chappy sent Derek off to the races with a thru ball from the right, but the cruel offside call struck again, most likely winning him the summer season title.

With the shutout secure, and the game almost over, Cameron Road got their final taste of summer glory as Danny bombed a goal kick over the defense for Andy to run onto. With some cheeky moves to leave the keeper helpless, Andy walked the ball into the back of the net for the 3-0 win to close out the game.

What a game to end the season!

Man-of-the-Match: After 8 weeks, Nolan got his shutout! Cheers to another great summer with the younger Clay between the pipes. Just think, in only another decade we may see Hendrix back there, batting away balls with his Mindcraft sword.

Post-Match-Report: Legendary. There were canned cocktails. Conor’s salsa. Chips. Mist. Ciro was avenged as Andy snuck up on Chappy and absolutely demolished him with a 5 gallon bucket of warm “tatty water,” the bulk of which is still lodged inside his brain. There was a pretzel water icing. Billy and Derek took a cooler full of ice, with Derek taking the bigger hit. Too many good memories for the mind to comprehend. The perfect end to another stellar summer season. Thanks to all the Honey Badgers and CRU Summer Family for making it happen yet again.