Yesterday, however, the Seahawks again failed to play up to their full potential even with a two-man advantage after two Calcutta veterans, were ejected. Calcutta?s Clifford ?Calbo? Usher was ejected for allegedly talking back to the referee, Gerald Henry. Calbo had received an earlier caution (yellow card), and was ejected. Later, the Bulls? Walter Trejo was ejected for what the ref said was a flagrant elbow directed at Jairo Sandoval. With that, the Seahawks were able to escape with a 1-nil victory over the Calcutta Bulls, to whom we can now refer as the ?calves with a mild temperature?, because the fever is just about gone. Now don?t get me wrong: The Bulls kicked up some dust, and if this unit should stay together and sign some experienced players to assist ?Calbo? Usher, Derwin Innis, ?Gigante? Perez, and the other veterans on the squad, Bull Fever won?t be centralized or specific to the Corozal area, but could become a serious epidemic across the BPFL spreading into other districts. Similarly to last week?s game in Calcutta, San Pedro managed to give away the first half, unable to make accurate passes and complete basic plays. They were therefore unable to threaten the Corozal goal in the first stanza. At the half, Coach Marvin Ottley once again demanded that his players ?pick it up? and not fall into a slumber. They turned up the heat a notch in the second half, holding the ball longer, creating spaces, finding the cracks in the Bull defense and distributing the ball from the middle to the forwards. That strategy helped just four minutes into the second half when Jairo Sandoval went around two Calcutta defenders and served up a pass to Landy Pinelo. Pinelo directed a header which froze Giovanni Rodriguez, who didn?t make an attempt at the ball that bounced to his right for the game?s only goal. Playing with a two-man advantage, the Seahawks were still unable to use it to their advantage until late in the game, when Julio ?Chucky? Valle was substituted for Deon Frazier. It was then that San Pedro intensified their breaks. Back here on the mainland, in ?Shugga? City Orange Walk, Dean Flowers struck the winning goal in overtime that took Juventus one step closer in the hunt for the BPFL championship that has been eluding them for the past few seasons. Flowers received a pass on the Juventus side of the pitch and drove down the middle, matched up evenly with three Sagitun defenders against three Juventus brothers – Chris Hendricks, Oliver ?Lionheart? Hendricks, and Dean Flowers. Dean served up the pass to ?Lionheart? and immediately got it back on a give-and-go where he lined up on the run and launched a curving left foot rocket from about sixteen yards away, forcing Darren Hinds to spread out for the save. Unfortunately for Hinds and Sagitun, the nets shook and the Juventus fans jumped high. In last weekend?s game in Independence, Hinds had defended very well, stopping close range shots and everything else that was thrown at him. In comparison to last weekend?s game where Sagitun defeated Juventus 1- nil, Hinds wasn?t as busy, but that didn?t matter to Dean Flowers. After playing to a scoreless draw in 90-plus-minutes of regulation time, the visiting defending champs fell to Juventus 1-nil in the first four minutes of overtime. Sagitun?s opportunity for the equalizer came in the 9thminute of the second half of the overtime period when Sagitun captain Hilly Muschamp switched positions with his brother, Robert Muschamp. Hilly went to the midfield and Robert fell back to sweeper. Hilly was deep inside Juventus? eighteen-yard territory when Mark ?Kelo? Leslie misread the play. The Juventus defenders came down on Muschamp and Leslie. The threat of the possible equalizer was averted. In a post game interview with KREM Sports, game MVP Dean Flowers said, ?My job is not to earn a starting position, but to spark the offense and do the defensive work when I?m needed.? With the wins, the San Pedro Seahawks and Juventus have jumped to the playoff lead with nine points each. Defending champs Sagitun are in third with six points, while the Bulls have no points and the not-so-strange task of playing spoiler. Coming up this Saturday, June 4, 2005, Sagitun will be hosting the Seahawks, who gave Sagitun their most lopsided loss all season, 3?1. This game is critical for the defending champions. They would have to avenge the loss against San Pedro, and hope the Bulls defeat next door neighbor, Juventus. If this should happen, Sagi could be back in the hunt, but if Sagitun should lose, and Juventus wins, then it would likely end up with a Juventus/Seahawks championship series.
