SLO United

Last Friday I speed pack the Audi for Bako Round 2.  This is the big one.  The All Stars Section 10 playoffs.  There can only be one winner.  And that winner goes to Western States to face the best AYSO All Star teams from California, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Alaska.

We hit the road and it’s the pinnacle of pretty.  The drive to Bakersfield is never more scenic than the March after sequential atmospheric rivers.  Carpets of wildflowers in golds and violets.  It almost distracts you from the moonscape of randomly placed ant-like oil drills.  Almost.

Per the yoozh, we check-in to the same hotel, one room over.  We have dinner at the same Mexican restaurant we went to with Dad last year.  I lay everything out so the 5:30am alarm is less alarming.

Saturday we hit the pitch with our first game against Magic Mountain.  Technically they call themselves Castaic but clearly Magic Mountain is better branding.  We win 6:0.  Our second game is against Santa Barbara.  We know not to discount the gauchos.  We win 6:2.  If we’d had them more than once, this ref crew most certainly would have earned themselves a secret Spanish nickname.  We code name all the worst refs.  Cruz started it with Las Hamburguesas.  Of course one of the Hamburguesas is in Bakersfield.  She is everywhere.

Our third game was against Kern River Valley, which is a more picturesque name for Bakersfield.  We won 7:0.  Their best kid got megged a couple of times by our players and rather than hanging his head, he jokingly asked Jose for his autograph.  It was the best example of sportsmanship I’ve ever seen– the kids just had fun and didn’t let the score ruin their last game as a team.

That night we eat a big birthday dinner at Hungry Hunter with Grandma and Granddad and go to bed early.  We arrive back at the frigid tundra at 7AM.  Jacob makes his car nest with his new down blanket, all the pillows, and a hot spot.  I’m smart enough to hide the individually wrapped pieces of Nate’s birthday Texas sheet cake.

The semifinal game is against Sherman Oaks/Van Nuys.  Unfortunately, they’re not lucky enough to live near a Magical Mountain.  It’s a hard fought game.  We’re winning at halftime 1:0 but then they come back and score.  We win 2:1.  The boys go to the corner and create an olé olé olé olééééééééé huddle that even Brazil would admire.

The final is next.  This is what we’ve been waiting for.  And who do you think it’s against?
You guessed it.
Cutler-Orosi.
Say it with a sneer.

We recognize Blue Hair.  He’s gone from #12 to #9.  But #6 is still #6.  Let the battle begin.

Rogelio scores our first goal.
They score on us.
Nate scores our second.
The next quarter we watch helplessly.
In a matter of moments we’re down by 2 goals.
Their goalie’s drop kick is 80% of the field.
We watch multiple mistaken reads as the ball bounces over our defenders, and then our goalie.
Blue Hair powers one under the crossbar from the top of the box.
There’s still a lot of game left people!
Rogelio scores our third goal and it’s beautiful.
He kisses his knuckle and points to the sky.
The momentum shifts.
We can do this.
At halftime we’re losing 3:4.

Nate comes back in, dribbles, cracks a hard shot.
The goalie baubles it and Easton crashes the net.
We’re tied.  Let’s go!
One of the Cutler coaches angrily lashes out at the refs.
He’s a giant bear of a man… he’s calmed by the Cake Moms.
This is the Cutler crowd I remember from last year.
We’ve all had multiple out-of-body heart attacks by this point.
Emotions are high.  Our brains are not fully functioning.

It’s 4:4 and the fourth quarter.
Please, please don’t make me endure penalty kicks.
Rogelio has a beautiful cross to Nate, volley, gooooooooal.
The crowd explodes.

We win 5:4.

We’re elated.  Cutler’s in tears.  Looks like they had the good sense not to bring cake.  It’s the third back-to-back Bakersfield title for SLO Boys U12 All Stars.

As we drive home it begins to rain.  Big fat drops.  And I’m reminded that last weekend, as we climbed the hill in James’ car, we passed the exact point when last year I’d called him to tell him about our Sunday.  My eyes tear-up as I feel it wash through me.  At that exact moment, Santería, comes on the radio.  And I know he knows.

It was the best, most beautiful weekend in Bakersfied.  Bet you’ve never heard that before…