The champion of the 2009 Bombardier Pacific Coast Open is Grants Farm Polo Team: Pedro Falabella, Sugar Erskine, Jeff Hall, and Andy Busch. They played a come from behind battle today at Santa Barbara Polo and Racquet Club against an ERG team that made them work for every goal. Despite struggling with penaly shots for most of the game, Grants Farm never gave up and and when the penalty shots did not fall, they made it up for it with speed and hustle to get the field goals they needed to win 13-11.
Both these teams had to overcome some adversity to get to the finals, and the toughness of these players was evident right away in the first chukker. Both teams started off letting the horses run, and the score was even after the 1st chukker, with Gonzalo del Tour showing great determination to tie the score up at 2-2 by recovering a penalty 4 and flipping the ball in on the nearside. In the 2nd chukker, it looked like Grants Farm would get out front quickly but Scott Wood had a nice nearside save in front of goal to keep the score close, as Grants Farm took a slight 4-3 lead into the 3rd chukker. ERG took the lead back in the 3rd chukker with two goals from del Tour, one from Paco de Narvaez, and a fabulous goal from Jeff Blake that he scored by taking the ball the length of the field on the near side, powering through the defender’s hook, and finishing off the run with a bullet of a neck shot. In that chukker Grants Farm had two goals, as Pedro Falabella and Andy Busch added field goals. The score at halftime was 7-6 in favor or ERG, as the missed Grants Farm penalties, and a penalty 3 that Blake cleared, were proving costly.
The 4th chukker was played at wide open speed, which was very entertaining to watch but there were a lot of shots from both teams that just went wide. The only field goal of the chukker came from del Tour who met the play at midfield to make the steal and streaked to goal all alone. However, two Grants Farm penalty 2 conversions knotted up the score at 8 all.
The tension was rising in the grandstand, and the supporters of each team were standing up cheering the players on. Falabella got the chukker started with a great shot from about 70 yards out that soared over the defender’s heads. ERG countered with a de Narvaez field goal and then another great play from de Narvaez, who outrode Grants Farm on a knock in to back the ball to Jeff Blake, who was turned facing goal in great position to score with just seconds remaining on the clock.
ERG carried a slim 10-9 lead into the 6th chukker and it seemed like the momentum was running in their favor. They extended their lead to 11-9 with a penalty 6 (safety) conversion. To Grants Farm the score read 9-11, emergency. They needed a goal and they got one from Andy Busch, who barreled through the pack to score with five minutes remaining. Then on the other end a penalty 3 was awarded in Grants Farm’s favor. They had not made a penalty 3 or 4 all day, but Jeff Hall split the goal posts when it counted to tie the game back up at 11 all with 3:45 remaining. The pressure was on, with the next goal almost sure to win the game, and each possesion was crucial. Finally, Erskine turned the corner, ran the ball to goal, looked like he was about to lose it, hit the ball three times out of the air and gave Grants Farm the lead 12-11 with 1:20 remaining.
The next lineup was crucial, and Andy Busch, who had been a wall at back all day, controlled the lineup and hit a pass to Hall from the boards, who sank a shot for the insurance goal just before the warning horn. And with that, the Grants Farm celebration started in earnest. I think it is still going on, I hope there is enough Bud Light left in Southern California to last the night!
At the awards presentation, Jeff Blake was awarded MVP of the game for his stellar offensive and defensive exploits. Jeff Hall, who told me this morning he played his first tournament game ever at the age of 7 here in Santa Barbara, was awarded the Skene Award by Elizabeth Skene, for being the MVP of the season and demonstrating sportsmanship and team leadership. And Sugar Erskine’s mare Shell Rock was awarded BPP. Interestingly enough, Sugar won the finals last year with Audi, and Shell Rock was BPP in that game as well. So for the teams looking to win the PCO next year, I would advise you to call Sugar and see if he and Shell Rock are available for 2010.
