An unusual Friday afternoon game for all ISL teams today. Brooks kicked off it's Parents Weekend activities with the normal classroom visits. But this weekend's event wasn't normal for a group of us. The senior parents really didn't have much to do. Seniors were excused from the classroom visits for the most part. It was definitely a different feel from past years for us. We all also talked about the strange feeling each of us was having knowing this was the last home game for the seniors. All agreed that for today at least, we would look at it as the last "regular season" home game.
Prior to game time, there was a brief ceremony where coach Dusty took a microphone to the field, called the seniors and senior parents forward and did a brief introduction of each senior and their parents. The boys presented their moms with a small bouquet of flowers with a player card attached. A new tradition starting this year! It was very nice.
On to the game. The pattern of domination continued. This was as bad as the St. George game from a Brooks ball control perspective. Brooks had multiple opportunities but couldn't put the first one in. Unfortunately, as was the case against BB&N, the opponent scored the first goal. After 22 full minutes of pressure, Nobles popped a shot over Mattie's hands to the top right corner. Disbelief on and off the field. From the way the play developed, it appeared to me Matt thought the shot was going over the top and pulled his hands down. His dad was sick about it and after standing with me for the first 22 minutes retreated to the stands to sit. He did rejoin a bit later when Brooks tied the score. It must be tough being a goalie's parent!! :-) I talked to Mattie later and he did say he misjudged it and thought the ball was over the top.
The official review says Brooks struggled to retake control. In my view, Brooks never lost control. The ball left the Nobles half of the field a handful of times. And once it was lucky enough to find the net. On the other end, Brooks was hitting shots wide, high, off crossbars and posts. And the goalie made a spectacular save or two to go along with it. Finally, after some more great combination play, Patrick made another beautiful run down the side, turned the defender, crossed the ball to Greg. Greg's shot was stopped and the rebound to Zach who tied the score. Ok, back even. A few minutes later, Alex and Zach combined for a string of nice passes and Zach put one to the net. It looked like a pass to Greg alone in front on the goal line. It looked like Greg poked it into the open net. It looked like Greg was finally going to break his drought. In the end Greg said the ball was already over the line and it was Zach's goal. No matter who's goal it was; it was a Brooks goal and Brooks was up 2-1.
The pressure continued from Brooks. Nobles would have a run here and there into the Brooks end, but nothing sustained. Halftime came and went and nothing changed. More posts, more misses for Brooks. A few fouls, against Brooks gave Nobles some direct kicks and it sure did make things interesting. Mattie handled everything else that came his way. The last 2 minute saw 2 corners and another free kick for Nobles. Excitement right down to the end for sure. This really should have been a 6 or 7 to 1 game for Brooks. But, a win is a win.
The boys were all ready yo go off and check the scoreboard and hope that St. George could pull the upset of Rivers to set a tie at the top. Before they left the field, a couple of alums came on to say hello to the guys. Elijah and Hayden were there watching today. Zach saw Elijah and ran to him like he used to run to me when I'd get home. He jumped into Elijah's arms and Elijah actually had to catch him, holding him for a second. It was a special moment for sure. The two of them became very close over the last two years and it was clear they were happy to see each other.
As I'm writing this the morning after. The scores are all in. Rivers beat St. George 5-0. So the standings still have Rivers at the top, with Brooks 3 points back. That 1-0 loss to Rivers the only difference between the two. Who knows, there may be a tournament rematch coming for these two teams. That one will be on a larger field though...
One final note. One of the parents, Mr. Bolte, is a former player and avid fan. He watches all the other leagues and keeps tabs on things outside of the ISL. He's been talking about a western Mass team, Berkshire School. These are the guys that ended Brook's season in the quarter finals 2 years ago. Evidently they are extremely strong and rolling over everyone. On Thursday they beat last year's champion South Kent 4-0. I checked their web site this morning and they are winning games 6-0, 5-1, 7-2. I did notice they were in the class A playoff last year. They declared themselves Class A and I believe that is a 3 year commitment. Hopefully we don't see them this year!!
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