Hey everyone, Jeremy here. I thought I should add a little news to this blog of ours. As you know if you’ve looked at this blog, Jacob has been playing soccer this year and we have created a nice fan club for him and his team (Kayla played soccer this year too, but she was a little embarrassed of her odd family members, and she wouldn’t let us create a fan club for her). Anyway, this was probably the coolest sporting event that I’ve been to in a long time. But first you need some background knowledge. Jacob’s team is the Orange Crushers. They were a pretty good team, only losing two games on the year, leading up to the last game that is. Jacob was definitely one of the best players on his team and in the league, scoring the most goals on his team. Like I said they were one of the better teams in the league, but the best team was the Black Team (I can’t remember their team name).
For weeks the Orange Crushers’ coaches were gearing these kids up for their end-of-the-year showdown with the Black Team. Now this was no ordinary team. Most of the kids on this team have been playing together for a number of years and probably haven’t lost a game since wins and losses became meaningful. Suffice it to say, they were good. To prepare for this team the coaches told the Orange Crushers that they would need to play very well to keep the game close, and that if they were fortunate enough to score just one goal, then they would shift their style of play and focus on defense to preserve their lead or at least not let the game get too out of hand. With all of the hype going into this last game, the kids were pretty excited to see how they could do against this very good team.
Gameday: Adam, Rachel, Mom and I all went to the game together (Dad was their too as an assistant coach). Of course we showed up late (every time I show up late to one of Jacob’s games he scores at least one goal in the first two minutes before I show up). We hustle over to our sideline and right after we get there, we score a goal. I asked the head coach if the score was now 1-0…nope he tells me it’s 2-0! The Crushers are winning 2-0 already in the first few minutes! It turns out that we scored our first goal after Jacob got fouled in the penalty box after a breakaway. Jeff took the penalty kick and scored. After the second goal the sideline full of family members and coaches erupted while the boys on the field celebrate by mobbing their teammate who had just scored the goal.
The game was far from over as the Black Team battled back to get into the game. Two of their players looked especially good and had very good chemistry with each other. These two players both wore fancy, colored shoes that looked way too expensive to buy for a ten-year-old kid. Perhaps the shoes were just used as intimidation. They eventually scored one goal before halftime on our best goalie, Jared, to make the score 2-1 Crushers at halftime. Everyone on the sideline was ecstatic that we were not only in a close game, but that we had the lead at halftime.
The third quarter began and the Crushers switched goalies to let Jared play out in the field. The third quarter went back and forth with many near misses on scoring attempts, until the Black Team finally put in the game-tying goal. The absurd possibility of a win that looked so promising now seemed like it might be starting to slip away. The fourth quarter began in a tie, and the Crushers were still playing hard. The coaches put Jared back as goalie to give the team the best chance at preventing any more goals. The fourth quarter started the way much of the third quarter went. The two teams traded possessions while each team came close to breaking the tie with a third goal. Then, it happened. The Orange Crushers took the ball downfield and passed to a wide open player on the far side who kicked the ball past the goalie into the back of the net. The rest of the team flocked to this player to congratulate him with high-fives and pats on the back. This was the go-ahead goal in the most impressive game of the season, but it was also more than that. See, the player who scored the goal, Jorgen, was the only player on the team who hadn’t scored a goal yet that season. As the players rushed back to their positions on defense congratulating Jorgen for his goal, they yelled to the sidelines, “It was Jorgen!” “Jorgen scored the goal!” To make sure that the coaches and the referees took note that it was Jorgen who scored the most important goal of the year.
The game continued and the Black Team showed a reinvigorated intensity to avoid their first taste of defeat. With only a few minutes remaining in the game, the Black Team drove the ball down the field and passed to one of the colored shoes players, he shot the ball to the top right corner of the goal. The goalie reacted quickly and just tipped the ball enough to make the ball sail over the top crossbar. The kids on the field celebrated the great save. With less than a minute remaining the Orange Crushers took the ball back and went down to the other side of the field. Jacob took the ball on a breakaway down the near sideline. When he got to the end line he kicked the ball hard to the center hoping to find a waiting teammate. He found one better as the ball ricocheted off a defender’s back and into the goal for the game-sealing fourth goal. Soon after, the referee blew his whistle signifying the end of the game. The kids once again jumped for joy and celebrated their victory. The two teams lined up to shake hands and the Orange Crushers could see tears in the eyes of the some members of the Black Team as they experienced defeat for the first time in the last game of their season.
Like I said this game was super-intense and a lot of fun to go watch. Also, in other news from the Southside, I applied for an internship position and will be working in the Arizona Secretary of State’s office as a legislative intern during the Spring semester. My job is mostly going to consist of tracking bills that are important to the Secretary of State’s office by attending committee meetings and hearings. I’m told the office relies heavily on their interns so my duties will consist of lots of different things, but I still don’t know entirely what those are yet. So, there you have it, news and a cool story.
