’26 Summer Game Final and Post Game Chaos!

A fitting end to a “weird one” of a summer season as the Honey Badgers took on Pennybacker United on pretty much the hottest day of the year. Luckily, the game was at 8am. Sunday also was yet another edition of the Beerca/CRU barbecue extravaganza post game celebration, so there was a lot of early pre-game activity as tents/tables/grills were staged for the after party.

Brian Parks was an early Man-of-the-Pre-Match for bringing along a 26 year old central midfielder named Joey to add some much needed youth to the squad! He was a good dude, a good player, and a good sport for suiting up with a bunch of old guys he’s never met before.

The Honey Badgers had 3 tents and 3 subs once Matt got done with his pre-game rituals. Nolan stepped up to play his final game in front of his Dad for 2026 – big shout out to the kid for another great summer effort. He certainly wasn’t bored as he was called into action early and often as Pennybacker had about 10 subs and not a gray hair in sight.

Big Dave and THE SLIDE TACKLE were back in action after an early season knee tweak. He was also seen carefully “escorting” attackers out of bounds with a friendly shift of his greater mass.

It was a good game early on with Cameron Road getting into some attacks. Jefe absolutely destroyed a diving header in the box off a corner kick that deserved a goal. He was also seen later defending a young Peter Crouch down the wing later in the half.

Pennybacker got two quick goals. The second one came after Nolan made a great diving save to push the ball wide. He also made a header save later in the game that was quite unique.

Peterson and Joey were controlling the middle of the pitch with Joey pushing forward and 88 pulling the strings from deeper. Joey got off a good shot, but Peterson showed why he is tied for the All Time Assists lead as he spotted Conor in the box and let loose a 30 yard assist to the big man who rounded the keeper and scored with the outside of the boot to give the Badgers a much needed halftime lifeline at 2-1.

There were no oranges at halftime, but there were frozen cantaloupe that did the trick.

The second half was probably the best 45 minutes of soccer that the Honey Badgers had all season. They were attacking the tree line with the same gusto as Luke grabbing for a hot plate of his grandmother’s biscuits.

Peterson was shooting. Billy surged forward down the wing, and also got off a shot from the outside the box. Chappy got in two crosses to Matt inside the box, and also smashed into the keeper trying to win a header. (by the way, the Pennybacker keeper was an odd fellow but a helluva good sport about everything, and was even adopted into the post-game tent chaos as a temporary honorary member). Matt was in action on both ends of the pitch as he gave an attacker a “Paris Neck Tie” in defensive duties.

Nolan was saving more shots on the back end while his Dad was getting in the box for corners at the other. He was there for double Bald Dome of Power action on one corner that Chappy sent wide that he was lining up.

In all the chaos, Pennybacker got another goal to make it 3-1, but it didn’t take away from the great 45 minutes that the Honey Badgers put in trying to tie it up.

With the 90 minutes of on-the-field action out of the way, it was time to get down to business on the 6+ hours of post-game carnage and mayhem.

Man-of-the-Match: Peterson was en Fuego today. Dropping a dime to Conor for the goal, and firing off several second half shots.

Post-Game-Report: Beerca and CRU teamed up for their semi-annual Grillathon after the game. Beerca sure do know how to do it right as they had many briskets, sausages and sides. CRU contributed their own grill with meats and treats. There was a batch of lethal Chapparitas. Jefe brought some “Electric Lemonade.” There were chips, Conor’s popsicles, sausages, and everything else that can be worn as a fashion accessory. Soccer Shots was in play, with Chappy and Peterson taking an early tandem lead, but crumbling under the pressure of a second win.

As the third Chapparita hit, things got weird. 5 gallon water buckets were emptied. An onion was caught out of mid-air like something out of a Jackie Chan movie. Jefe smeared chocolate anniversary cake all over the Bald Dome of Power like he was trying to hide his thermal signature from The Predator. He was then buried in a salty grave of tortilla chips. This was the mother of all post games. It might still be going on…..