The initial goal for any team in any league is to make the playoffs. You know you will likely experience some ups and downs in the regular season, so your first fight is to survive, earn that clean slate, and move into the playoffs with a team that is now (hopefully) ‘gelled’, healthy, and ready to pursue the big prize. Captain Chad Goins’ ‘Chadinals’ experienced more than their share of ‘downs’ out of the gate, with their only win in their first three outings coming against auto-win Green, and one of the two losses in that span coming against Black…the only team other than Green to go on to miss the playoffs. At 1-2-0 with what in hindsight was a softball early season schedule, there was really nowhere to go but up, but…they went down still further, bottoming out with a Week Five loss to Flint Blue that left them below the cut line at 1-3-0. Another goal for any team in any league is to build as the season progresses, and peak at the right time, and Red definitely understood that assignment, soaring through their next five games at a 4-0-1 clip, with the one non-win in the span coming against the Captain Copp’s juggernaut Orange…the ONLY point they would surrender all season! So, with playoff ticket already in hand at 4-3-1, Goins & Company looked to keep building towards a playoff peak in a regular season closer against Captain Joel Gattey’s Lime. Every season seems to have that one team that just racks up the ties, and at 2-2-4 coming in, Gattey’s Lime was a party to all but ONE of the tie games for all ten teams in the previous eight weeks! Lime had hit, missed, and tied their way to a cobbled-together eight points that had them playoff safe coming into this final match, but a win would mean improved playoff seeding, a winning record, and some much needed momentum heading into April. It was all Red early…specifically all Brennen Abel early, with the Young Canuck™ tallying at 9:42 (Steph Palomo Schmidt & Jackson Tomaszewski) and again at 5:23 (Gordon Schmidt & Captain Chad Goins) to give Red a two goal edge through one. Jerry Gonzales finally broke the scoring silence for Lime with just 0:15 remaining in the second (TK Mason & Chris Malki), leaving the door open for a comeback win (or yet another tie) for Lime, or a door-slamming sixth straight point producer for Red. It was Abel again early in the third (9:27, from Tomaszewski & Palomo Schmidt) to cap his hat trick and restore the two goal lead. Chris Malki kept the tension on, cutting the difference back down to one with his second of the season at 2:03 (Jordan Pynn & Vance Morra), but Jon Cima (17/19) and the clock would not allow a fifth Lime tie, as Red held on for a 3-2 win that boosted them into a tie with White for the three seed at 5-3-1. Matt Henderson (14/17) was solid as ever, but Lime were squeezed again, dropping to 2-3-4, their eight points good enough for playoff passage, but their low win total dooming them to one of the lowest seeds (pending results from later games).
Remaining recaps to come…
