The Chiefs were crowned regular season men's soccer champions last Sunday, battling to a 5-5 tie with CPU.
The 2012/13 campaign that began last September was settled decisively in the game's last two minutes. Chiefs needed at least a tie, and went up 3-1 early with a pair from Kellen Feschuk and a signature boomer from Matt Joe, while Ken Campbell struck for CPU.
Another CPU goal followed from Campbell that ended the half even.
In the second, centre backs Martin Blackwell and Keith Johnson directed their squads' play, while athletic outside backs Thomas Bidding and galloping Jesse Gemmel linked up the defence with the front line.
Strikers Joe and Campbell then powered their free kicks past blinking keepers, and a hard header from Fumi Takahashi had CPU ahead for their needed lead.
As the final minutes ticked off, Rick August's pass to the far outside wing would have been harmless enough at the feet of 99 per cent of the league, but unfortunately for CPU, that pass came to the shoe of Scott Johnson, who delivered a 30-yard cross over, jumping defenders' heads and the keepers' fluttering fingers, and into the far side pocket, causing the 100-plus fans who were quietly watching the ball's rise and fall to explode as the Chiefs got their championship.
In other men's league action, Wolves played Belgium to Halfmoon Bay's Blitzkrieg this week, going down 4-1 to a team that gets better by the game and who, not surprisingly, have Paddy Power giving 7/4 close odds to win the playoff tourney.
Sean Baines returned to the line-up to put away a pair, with singles from James Kennedy and Taki Vohalis. The Wolves star-studded front line was limited to a single from Jeremy Hudson.
Ridgepoint won 4-1 over Sita's, with goals from Sean Whalen and Chad Parrel; however, the real story was Grant Marshall. No, he didn't actually put anything in the net, but utilizing tactics of a chess master, the field-vision of a Gretzky, and the geometry of a billiards champ, Marshall's big picture passing set the game's tone, dragging his teammates up to his plane of play and showing them what was possible.
The men's and women's playoff tournaments will be held on April 6 and 7 at Shirley Macey.
