2018 Clarence Coyotes Getting Stronger, Earn Premier Point

In the mid (maybe late) nineties, I met up in the UK with one of my best friends at the time (Matt Albrecht, O-35 Bluestars) - he was studying at Oxford and had set up this 'open itinerary' where the cities were set, but the time in each spot was not set in stone.  It was a blast - our three days in Amsterdam, somehow, stretched into nine... Nevertheless, some of my most vivid (if not only) memories were throughout Ireland - Cork, Galway, and Dublin, to be precise - one striking thing... the purely green grass!  It was crazy.  Vivid green...

...As I walked up the hill on my way to this season's Home Opener at The Clarence Town Hall Park, I had an Irish flashback -- the grass. was. beautiful.  The field looked better than ever!  It ended up being a bit bouncy and had a few divots, but it looked good and it was nice to be on some non-synthetic stuff for the first time in a while!

We Coyotes had some off season moves.  We lost a few (including one of the team's leaders - Schroentrain) and picked up a few.  Prior to this season, I didn't think we could get any stronger - physically - as we have strongmen Kenny and AC shoring up our backline -- however, lo and behold, it has happened -- we are stronger!  We picked up Bubba, Junior, and Mo!  (Honestly, those are their pre-nickname names - definitely not to be confused with the three stooges' Harry Larry and Moe - our guys are beasts)!  They all have skill.  They all have speed.  They all have super human strength.  Great pick-ups!  Great names!

We scored first.  Early on.  There was a bit of a scrum - and after a corner kick (I think) and a nice pass from Gary "assist" Boughton, Mo notched his first as a Coyote whilst falling backwards a bit.  Nice finish.  1-0 good guys.

Our opponent was BUSS.  They scored next - right after us.  I don't remember the goal.  1-1

The next goal was one for the ages...we were backed up in our third.  I was in!  I applied some pressure to one of their midfielders and he coughed it up.  I gobbled that puppy up, took two positive touches, and toe-balled that bad boy forward - it didn't go exactly where I wanted it to go - but it got there, into their third, and in the vicinity of Mo!  Mo 'Mo Better' Channer was one on one with a Buss defender.  Uh, not a very good thing for the opposition... Well, even though the opponent was good and fast, Mo is a soccer specimen.  He created a step or two advantage and absolutely blasted the ball into the net.  I had on Rec Specs, so I saw what happened to the ball - it kind of went oblong and had a few sparks and fire on its backend.  2-1 good guys.  I'll take the assist.  All day.

Their second goal was a mis-hit dribbler that snuck in.  2-2.

With 5 minutes left in the half one their dudes kicked Gary in the back of the leg and got a second yellow.  They were down to ten men.

2-2 at half.

The second half was basically the same as the first.  Back and forth.  No real advantage to either team.  They scored a nice third goal to take the lead.  

We had a nice, late finish off of a great corner from Gary.  Clint finished that one. Sam claimed he got a piece.

3-3 Final.

Sam ran around like a madman and played well.  We missed a late PK off of both posts.  Kenny is a monster.  JJ was consistently good.  LP made 3-5 very good saves and one very veteran move.  I wore Rec Specs and hustled.  Thinkin' about a tri-colored headband.

* References:

'mid-nineties' - a time of less entitlement and more privacy

'Mo Better' - reference to a Spike Lee Joint -  from the early nineties

'late-nineties' - a time of less entitlement and more privacy

'rec specs' - slightly awkward glasses/goggles used in order to see by people playing sports now, who graduated high school in the early to mid nineties

I've held off all week writing this recap because of 2 reasons.
1. Its taken me a few days to settle my frustration
2. I wrote a recap only to have it accidentally delete itself before I could post (I think I accidentally pressed F5).

So my first recap of this game was long winded and pretty frustrated. I used a lot of big words and unfriendly language but since I've settled down a bit I'm gonna speak from the heart.

If anybody from Clarence is reading this recap, please pass this along to the person who chooses your home field:

Your field is terrible! I really enjoy playing against your squad because you have some incredible talent and a long history of good teams. But your field selection is doing your team an incredible disservice. Players like Berardi, Sutherland, Hughes, Boughton all have great skill. If we play Clarence at say Nichols or D'youville objective number 1 is to try and stop those guys. But when we play Clarence, at Clarence Town Hall 1 (which happens almost every year, look it up if you don't believe me) the game turns into a big old game of U-12 soccer. By U-12 soccer I mean kick and run. It sucks. It destroys the game that we all love. It's not a home field advantage type of thing. A bunch of your players were dribbling into potholes all game long. I think between the both of our teams, no more than 3 passes were completed in one possession. That is horrible to do to the game, and a travesty to do to your players. I have heard that you guys get the field for free or nearly free...which is awesome. We pay $200 per game to play at D'Youville, and it is worth it. There are plenty of restaurants or local businesses that would love to sponsor your team. You should hit them up to cover the cost of playing on a good field. Listen, I know I'm the only one talking about this right now, but there are many people who have said the same thing to me, I'm just the only one who will say it.

So, as for the game....it sucked. The field was terrible, the ref was incompetent, the side judge wanted to argue rather than running the lines. It was bad, both ways. At least the weather was nice.
We scored a couple, they scored a couple, nothing fantastic either way. Polo played well, Kyle played well, Hammer was solid, Tim made some nice saves. For them Sam was good, I really regret letting him get away, even though I didn't have a choice. Also JJ and Kenny had solid games. Martinez and his rec-specs put in a great effort (should have passed them over to the ref though).
So another year goes by when both teams have a lackluster game against each other. Oh yeah, I specifically remember last years game when Sam Sutherland dribbled into a puddle on a breakaway. And when Junior Geegba (who ironically plays on Clarence now) had the ball stop in a puddle 10 yards from goal. Oh also, the year before when Mate Tarr rolled his ankle during our annual classless classic.

Anyways, we play Southtowns FPFC this week in the mean streets of South Buffalo in an early battle between the 3rd and 4th seed.

Good luck to Clarence the rest of the way, except if we play them in Tehel cup. That could happen if we beat OP Alliance and they get by the team they are playing. Guess where that game would be played?????

Thanks for reading.