State Champions

This is Anthony's team right after they won the third game 4-2 this morning and after they knew that they had won first place in the Director's Cup. They had just beaten the team (the Titans) that beat them in the regular season but that they beat two weeks ago to win first place in the Western District, even after they were down 0-2 at halftime. Coming from behind to win seemed to be a common theme this weekend.

The first game was at 9:30am yesterday (Saturday) morning. They played against the Fusion from Houston. The other team scored pretty early and then they scored again. Our team didn't play well at all in the first half. During the second half it was like they were a different team. They ended up winning 4-2.

After the first game we got to go out to lunch with the team. The boys sat in a different room at Logan's Steakhouse. One of the parents had the great idea to tell our servers our son's uniform number so we could pay for the correct boy's meal. Anthony really wanted their 11 oz. steak for lunch even when Patrick told him to "eat light". He ended up ordering the salmon. Some of the other boys ordered that steak, so we were hoping it wouldn't impact their play.

Well, none of the boys got sick after that big lunch, but the other team (the Sonics) scored first again. Again we were down in the first half, but we did come back to win 3-2 in a more "back and forth" type of game.

The Sonics had apparently beaten the Fusion six times in a row. They had some Spanish-speaking parents that were shouting profanities during the game. We couldn't believe it! They were yelling these things at our boys and the referee! Of course some of our parents (and boys) can speak Spanish as well, and one of our parents got thrown out for retaliating. I was so relieved when we won against that team. That team didn't even shake hands at the end of the game.

The Titans were our 8am game this morning (Sunday). It was cold and windy (50s) and I had forgotten to bring warm clothing. Luckily one of the other parents had an extra blanket. This team wasn't as rude as the Sonics, but they were fouling us like crazy. For example, one of them deliberately elbowed one of our guys in the face, even though he had already gotten the ball away from our guy. The referee was right there and gave him a red card. He didn't even protest it because he knew. We heard one of their parents say something like, "They're teenage boys." What?!!

The Titans had lost all of their games this weekend putting them in fourth place. They didn't even stay for the medal ceremony where they presented the remaining three teams with their medals.

Don't they all look so happy? This picture right after the "official" one that will be on the website. One of the boys held up two fingers instead of one when we last took this picture two weeks ago. They made sure he held up only one finger this time. We're Number 1!

This is a picture of Anthony and his club team coach. John has been pretty tough on Anthony, and there was a time when Anthony didn't like him very much because of that. He now understands what a great coach John is. The whole team has benefited from his great coaching.

Anthony has been on such a high that he has worn his medal almost constantly since the win this morning. He put the medal under his shirt because he didn't want to be "obnoxious" by wearing it around in the hotel. He took it off when we went to church. He plans to bring it to school tomorrow to show it off. Congratulations, Sweetie! We're proud of you!