By Alex Webbe
In a real barn-burner on the Port Mayaca Polo fields, Colin McCosh scored the winning goal in sudden-death overtime as the Detroit blues/Port Mayaca polo team downed Mt. Brilliant 12-11 on a 30-yard penalty conversion.
Detroit Blues/Port Mayaca received one goal by handicap and wasted little time adding to it with McCosh scoring twice and individual goals from teammates Luis Escobar and Robert Orthwein giving them a commanding 5-0 lead after the first chukker of play.
Stevie Orthwein finally got Mt. Brilliant on the scoreboard with the conversion of a penalty shot, but Escobar scored again for Detroit Blues/Port Mayaca to hold a 6-1 lead going into the third.
Mt. Brilliant finally got on track in the third chukker with Sugar Erskine scoring three goals from the field and Stevie Orthwein converting a Penalty 3. Luis Escobar scored on a penalty shot, but the five-goal Detroit Blues/Port Mayaca lead was gone, and Mt. Brilliant trailed 7-5 at the end of the first half of play.
Julian Daniels scored his first goal of the day to give Detroit blues/Port Mayaca an 8-5 advantage, but consecutive goals from Stevie Orthwein and Guille Aguero ended the fourth chukker with Mt. Brilliant trailing by a single goal, 8-7.
Escobar converted a penalty shot and McCosh scored his third goal from the field, but a penalty shot from Stevie Orthwein kept it close, with the Detroit Blues/Port Mayaca holding on to a 10-8 edge.
Stevie Orthwein opened the sixth chukker with a penalty conversion. Moments later Luis Escobar scored for an 11-9 advantage as the battle raged on.
Stevie Orthwein cored again and Sugar Erskine added his fourth goal of the game to tie it at 11-11 and force overtime.
After nearly two hours of slugging it out, the deciding goal would be scored following a Mt. Brilliant foul. McCosh would score his fourth goal on a penalty shot, and the Detroit Blues/Port Mayaca team would escape with a 12-11 victory.
Luis Escobar led all scoring with five goals. Julian Daniels and Robert Orthwein scored single goals while McCosh added four goals, including the game winner in overtime.
Stevie Orthwein scored six goals for Mt. Brilliant to lead all scoring. Sugar Erskine added four goals and Guille Aguero scored once.
PIOCHO RANCH 9, AUDI 8
The Grand Champions polo grounds IN Wellington hosted play earlier in the day as Piocho Ranch outlasted Audi, 9-8, in a fast-paced, wide-open contest that accentuated the best of the old and the best of the new.
Polo legend Memo Gracida commanded a Piocho team that included son Julio, J. J. Celis and T. J. Barrack against Marc Ganzi’s talented Audi that included Chris Nevins, Gringo Colombres and superstar Gonzalito Pieres.
Celis scored first for Piocho Ranch, but Audi took a 2-1 lead on the strength of goals from Ganzi and Pieres.
Memo Gracida tied it on a penalty shot in the second chukker, but Pieres answered with a goal to put Audi up 3-2. Celis would even the score at 3-3 with his second goal of the game as the chukker ended.
The score was tied three more times before halftime before Julio Gracida gave Piocho Ranch a 6-5 lead, a lead they wouldn’t give up.
Memo Gracida put Piocho Ranch up 7-5 in the opening minutes of the fourth chukker before Pieres struck again, cutting the lead to 7-6. Both teams mounted long drives that were turned back as the play raced up and down the field.
“We had our opportunities,” said Ganzi as he reflected on two goals he had missed, “we just didn’t convert them.”
The fifth chukker was the turning point for Piocho Ranch with goals from both Memo and Julio Gracida while Audi was held to a single goal from Pieres.
Audi pressed its attack in the final chukker, with Pieres breaking through for a goal, but that would be all that the Piocho Ranch defense would allow. Final score, 9-8, Piocho Ranch.
Gonzalito Pieres led all scoring with six goals while teammates Marc Ganzi and Chris Nevins added single goals in the loss.
Memo Gracida’s four goals led Piocho Ranch. Julio Gracida added three goals to the total and J. J. Celis scored twice.
Play will continue in the 18-Goal Masters tournament will continue on Tuesday, March 18 when Mt. Brilliant meets the Detroit Blues on the Grand Champions polo grounds.