Byrnes Tournament

Oh-fer

This weekend at the prestigious Byrnes Soccer Tournament things didn't go quite as planned for your beloved Razorbacks. Our first game vs. Blue Ridge, who we beat 4-1 last season at the Mauldin Cup, was scheduled for 8:30 p.m, already a late start time, but didn't actually kick off till 9:30 when temperatures had dropped from "cold" to "I can't feel my feet" celsius. Our attack was so pedestrian that due to lack of movement by their keeper, a blow torch had to be used to unstick him from the spot he found himself frozen to by the time the final whistle blew. Good thing we never got anything going because he was standing on the 18, all blue-lipped, waving his arms and pointing at his feet with still 15 minutes left in the game. That is just how brain-dead we were. Their keeper, frozen to the ground 18 yards from his own goal, and we couldn't even get close enough to chip one into the old onion bag. The final proof of how slushy our brains had become came when Henley Cothran threw out the old "double-dog dare" to his buddy Thad Estes on their way off the field. The whole crowd gathered around in silence while Esto poured hot coffee on his son's tongue to unstick it from the frozen goal post. Well, at least one of us tasted goal.

After Estocrates and I played a long game of "What if?" - as in, "What if we had Leo Messi on the wing, and Sergio Ramos at right back? And what if we could get Kaka and Ronaldo on loan from Real Madrid? etc. etc, we arrived in darkness back in Walhalla, scattered out into the woods to relieve ourselves, got the trash off the bus, got back on and headed back to Duncan. This was not a hugely popular decision but what else could we do? We had to be back on the pitch in two hours and we had an hour and a half drive. I've never been one for conspiracy theories, but something was definitely starting to smell fishy. I wondered, as I sat in the darkness marinating in the aroma of 16 unshowered soccer players, if we would ever be free from the nefarious clutches of OSLAP (Operation Squeel Like a Pig)(Refer to one of the earlier posts if you aren't familiar with it.)?

Our morning match was against a very good Eastside High team, but we came out in the first 15 minutes or so with some very nice stuff and actually got our only goal of the tournament off of a free kick, which we played quickly to Ovi Lopez who ripped a shot from the left side of the box into the back of the net. At half-time we were up 1-0. However, the No-doze wore off midway through the second half, and just as we were entering that all-important R.E.M. phase of sleep the final whistle blew with Eastside claiming a 2-1 victory. Could have been more, but since Joel Putnam, our lanky keeper, is prone to sleep walking, he actually entered his own dream physically, which happened to be the game we were playing, and made some unconscious saves. Thanks for keeping it respectable dude.

After a good hardy meal and a few large handfuls of gel on the hair, the hogs were ready to play again. Yes, we played Eastside totally gel-less, which is probably why we couldn't string more than 2 passes together at a time. We just didn't recognize each other. We finally came alive in the second half of our final match vs. Wade Hampton after much shifting of the line up and actually dominated the possession even though the final score of 3-0 did not reflect it. So out of 6 halves of soccer we played one good one. Hopefully we'll be able to build off of it and improve from here.

We'll be in Abbeville at 6:00 on the 18th, where hopefully we'll get our mojo back.

j

Walhalla 2, Seneca 0

Last Friday night in part one of three clashes with neighboring rival Seneca, your Walhalla Razorbacks came out on top 2 - 0 in a game that hopefully will be a preview of the dazzling brand of soccer the pigs are capable of playing. Apart from a 10 minute segment midway into the second half when several of our boys had to take a break to put a little more gel into their wind-ruffled fohawks, the Razorbacks set spark to the Bobcats windtunnel of a field which rose into a billowing blaze by the time the closing whistle sounded. Though the late February temperature by gametime was cold enough to make even Janet Reno seem hot, the sound of crickets could be heard in the winter silence as the Seneca faithful in the stands sat in muffled awe while their boys ran around like beheaded chickens. Eli Cothran started the scoring in the 15 minute with a powerful finish in front of net off a Walhalla corner kick. The scoring was then capped off with another great finish right in front of goal by Ovi Espino in the 68th minute. Though just a friendly, the game was played with the high intensity we have come to expect from the rivals, both of whom have high expectations for their respective clubs this season.

The two teams will meet twice more this season on March 23rd at 7:00, and on March 31st at 7:00 as well. If Friday's scrimmage is any indication of the kind of nights those will be, you won't want to miss any of the action.

This weekend, the Razorbacks will travel to Duncan, South Carolina to take part in the annual pre-season tournament hosted by Byrnes High School. We will be playing at 8:30 Friday night against Blue Ridge High School and at 9:30 the following morning against Eastside. The winners of each bracket will then play in a championship match at a time to be announced later. If you love Walhalla soccer, don't miss out on a great chance to come and cheer us on.

j