By Alex Webbe
Polo Under The Lights takes place in the Empire Polo Stadium every other Friday. Other Friday night games are held on the grass on field #3.
Polo Under the Lights continues to be a popular attraction at the Empire Polo Club and this past Friday was no exception with Empire (Kimo Huddleston, Manny Questel and Artie Cameron) recovering from a first half deficit to defeat Poway (Billy Sheldon, Jared Sheldon and Austin Shelton) in an exciting 11-10 contest.
Seven ties and four lead changes shaped the competition as the see-saw battle saw hard riding, hard hitting arena polo action.
Empire received one goal by handicap and added two more goals on a penalty goal and a goal from the field from Manny Questel. Billy Sheldon responded with a pair of goals with Jared Sheldon adding a penalty goal. The teams took a 3-3 score into the second chukker of play.
Questal added two more goals for Empire in the second frame, but Poway fired back with a pair of goals from Shelton and a single goal from Billy Sheldon. At the end of the first half of play, Poway led by a narrow 6-5 margin.
Empire turned it around in the third period with two more goals from Questel and a single goal from Kimo Huddleston. Poway managed just a single goal from Billy Sheldon and empire found itself on top of an 8-7 score.
Jared Sheldon opened the final chukker with a goal to knot it up at 8-8. Questel fired back for Empire with a pair of goals, giving Empire a 10-8 two goal lead.
Poway staged a rally with Billy Sheldon cutting the Empire lead to a single goal, 10-9. An Empire foul put Jared Sheldon at the penalty line where he converted the shot for a 10-10 deadlock.
With all six players fighting for control of the ball, Empire pushed the attack to the Poway end of the arena where Questal scored the winning gal.
Manny Questal delivered an Herculean effort, leading all scoring with nine goals. Teammate Huddleston scored once and empire received one goal by handicap.
Billy Sheldon scored five goals for Poway. Jared Sheldon added three goals and Austin Shelton scored twice.