The men's soccer finals took place last weekend at Shirley Macey Park, and for Pender, a funny thing happened on their way to the beer cup.
On Saturday, fifth place Bananas were cheerfully ambling along, down 2-0 to fourth place Halfmoon Bay/Lighthouse Pub after two goals from Marcel Vander Stelt. At what point did the Bananas go from a gang of happy-go-lucky beer cup yahoos to first place contenders? It happened with 20 minutes left in the second half, when one play put the team on a different path.
A ball was crossed to Pender's John Gideon inside the centre circle. Instead of trapping and passing it, Gideon wound up and one-timed it, to attempt a shot no player in his right mind should take, and which is usually met with insults from teammates after it curls wide. This one time in a 100, however, everyone watched quietly as the ball sailed across the field and came down under the crossbar landing in the net.
A new fate seemed possible, and when Rod Kammerle dog-piled himself onto a heap of Half-moon Bay defenders in the goalmouth, and when everyone untangled themselves and saw the ball was across the line, Pender was in the final four for the first time ever. Other Saturday highlights included a Dean Totten hat trick against Sita Selects, and a Dave Daglish header that put Gibsons Pigs United (GPU) through to the semifinals.
The down-but-not-out Big Mac's Bruins dealt Gibsons' rivals GPU a parting shot with a 0-0 tie, which forced GPU to face first place Sechelt Chiefs in the semifinals.
"Our goalmouth was like a city under siege," said shell-shocked GPU defender Stuart Frizzell as Chiefs' strikers Matt Joe and Rick Timothy let their missiles fly, and a Jeremy Hudson Blitzkrieg tallied three goals in 15 minutes, to give Chiefs a 6-0 win and their spot in the final.
In the other semi, Bananas scored first, which was equalized by a sickening 35-yard thump from Coast Progressive United's (CPU) Fumi Takahashi.
Josh Young regained Pender's lead when he slammed into the CPU backline as though he was docking his fish boat.
In the last play of the game, CPU's Jeremy Budd ran forward and torqued a header at the far post. The ball touched the outside of the post to bounce wide, and CPU's doom was sealed. With another giant toppled and trampled under their cleats, the Bananas were going to the show.
The beer cup went to the Selects, with third place to CPU, and with these preliminaries out of the way, Shirley Macey Field was surrounded to watch Chiefs versus Pender.
At halftime, Chiefs were up 3-1, on goals from Jeremy Hudson, Scott Johnson and 'Flyin' Ryan Paul with a single from Brent Sheppard for Pender.
As the Chiefs' sideline drumbeat got louder, there was lots of talk about how great it was that Pender managed to come this far. Then early in the second half, when Bananas' Paul Van Wersch put Pender within one, eyebrows were raised. Bananas had already gone through the fourth and second place teams, but could they actually beat the Chiefs?
When Rich Massullo tied it up, both sidelines were on their feet. As the final minutes of overtime drained away, Bananas keeper Al Stewart would have preferred to sell Egmont real estate to a commuter than to face Scott Johnson and company in a shootout.
Then, in the final minute, young Jim Lemieux tucked in a left footer, and the Bananas had beaten the best teams in the tournament and added their name to the first place trophy, as well as winning most sportsmanlike team.
The league would like to thank refs Jeff Schupe, Mihal Korlikowski, Trevor Cockfield, Melissa Di Pietro and Stan Prudik, as well as league president Sean Whalen for an excellent season.
