By Alex Webbe
Altair scored a come-from-behind win to unseat the 2011 defending champion of the Sawgrass Challenge, Yellow Cab, in a hotly contested 11-10 win.
Altair received one goal by handicap and added a goal by Santi Torres in the opening chukker, but it was Yellow Cab that drove away with a 3-2 lead. A pair of goals from Juan Monteverde and a single goal from Pablo Spinacci set the pace for Yellow Cab in the first period of the finals.
Altair added second chukker goals from Torres and Carlos Gracida but Yellow Cab was up to the challenge. Two goals from Spinacci and single goals from Monteverde and Sean Garber set the pace as Yellow Cab extended its lead to three goals, 7-4.
A determined Altair lineup took the field in the third and shut down the Yellow Cab attack. Goals from team captain Beau Van Metre, Torres and Gracida tied it up at halftime, 7-7.
Yellow Cab tightened their defense in the fourth and kept Altair off of the scoreboard, but managed only a single goal from Spinacci as they defended an 8-7 advantage.
A penalty goal from Spinacci was countered by a 40-yard penalty conversion from Torres as Yellow Cab remained in the lead by a single goal at the end of the fifth chukker, 9-8.
Spinacci’s sixth goal of the contest had Yellow Cab in front, 10-8, when the Altair rally began. Two consecutive goals from Torres tied it up at 10-10 before Gracida scored the winning goal in the 11-10 Altair victory.
Torres was credited with six goals for Altair and was named MVP for his efforts. Gracida scored three times and Beau Van Metre added a goal for the win. Altair received one goal by handicap.
Spinacci’s six goals were a high for the Yellow Cab team. Monteverde added three goals and Sean Garber scored once.
Torres’s Tonka, was honored as Best Playing Pony.