By Alex Webbe
Faraway entered the game with Adam snow substituting for the injured South African 7-goaler, Sugar Erskine in an effort to atone for its 11-10 loss to Bendabout just a week before.
Bendabout jumped out to an early lead, and found itself up 3-0 midway through the second chukker. Goals from Snow and Arellano got Faraway back into the game, as the chukker ended with Bendabout on top of a 3-2 lead.
The two teams traded goals in the third, with Gillian Johnston and Lucas Criado getting on the scoreboard for Bendabout while Arellano accounted for a pair of goals for Faraway. The first half ended with Bendabout leading, 5-4.
Julio Gracida tied it up in the fourth with his second goal of the game, but Nevins responded for Bendabout with a goal. Snow scored from the field with 4:31 gone in the chukker, and the period ended in a 6-6 tie.
Inaki Laprida scored two quick goals for Bendabout in the fifth, but Arellano responded for Faraway with a penalty conversion and a goal from the field. The game remained tied, 8-8, going into the final chukker.
Arellano took advantage of opportunities in the sixth chukker, getting a goal from the field and converting another penalty shot. Faraway had its biggest lead of the game at 10-8 with the clock running down.
Bendabout struggled to get back into the game, but a resilient defense kept them off the scoreboard until the final seconds of play. Laprida tapped the ball through the Faraway goal as time expired, giving Faraway a hard-fought 10-9 win.
“It was a total team effort,” said Julio Arellano, “Bendabout is a very good team, and we had to give it our all to beat them today.”
“We got off to a slow start,” said Arellano, “and probably needed a bit of time to adjust to the new lineup, but at the end we were working well together and doing what we needed to do to win.”
“I rushed the play early on,” said Julio Gracida. “I think I was a bit nervous, and wasn’t connecting with my passes forward in the first three chukkers and caused Adam (Snow) and Julio (Arellano) to fall back. Once I settled down I thought we went well.”
Julio Arellano was named MVP and Lucas Criado’s Parejo was named as Best Playing Pony.
“Julio (Arellano) played well,” said team coach and former English 9-goaler Julian Hipwood,” but I might have considered Adam Snow as the MVP. He came in at the last minute and played strange horses and was quite physical,” he added. “He passed well and made major contributions to the win.”
ERG Wins Bobby Barry Cup. 11-10
For the second straight game, ERG jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, answering Santi Wulff’s opening goal for Patagones with four unanswered goals of their own.
Crowder scored his third goal of the game in the second, but was countered by goals from Memo Gracida and Wulff. ERG continued to lead 3-2 after two periods of play.
Crowder’s fourth goal of the game came in a third chukker that saw Patagones put three goals of its own on the scoreboard, two from Wulff and one from team captain Gonzalo Avendano, to even the score at 6-6 at the end of the first half.
Two penalty goals from Gracida in the fourth went unanswered, giving Patagones its first lead of the game, 8-6.
Crowder added two more goals to the ERG total in the fifth, and teammate Santi Torres scored a goal. Patagones was shut out for the first time all afternoon and trailed 9-8.
The legendary Memo Gracida added two more goals in the final chukker, giving Patagones a 10-9 advantage, but with time running out, the ERG attack broke through the defenses getting goals from Torres and De Narvaez for the 11-10 win and the 2011 bobby Barry Cup Championship.
“It was a tough game,” said Paco De Narvaez, ERG’s talented 9-goaler. “They made us work for every goal we got.”
“It was a great opportunity, and a great team to play with,” said California 6-goaler Jason Crowder who was filling in for the absent Freddie Mannix. “I was surrounded by good players,” he added, “they just made me pick up my game.”