Dark Horse soccer hosts first-ever alumni game

It was family member against family member, teammate against teammate, and Dark Horse against Dark Horse Friday at the Clinton Soccer Complex, when the first annual CHS Soccer Alumni game took place.

Brad Spell, who has coached the boys soccer program for more than two decades, knew all of the 84 players who participated.

This was evident as each and every one of them walked in to pay their dues and receive their shirts, and Spell greeted each individual, marking their name off of his list. Very few — if any — had to introduce themselves, as he would see their face, say their name, and mark them down.

The original starting time was planned for 6:30 p.m., but a late-day storm pushed it back to about 6:45. “This is great soccer weather!” Spell exclaimed many times. “The rain has cooled things up,” he continued.

A slight drizzle still hung over the heads of the players and the field as the international walkout and team introductions were completed, but by the time the game had started, the precipitation had ceased.

The co-ed competition had four total teams: two in gray and and two in gold. The event was sponsored by La Hacienda of Clinton, with their name and logo on the back of the shirts.

Generations of Dark Horse soccer players — from the innagural girls soccer teams in the late 90s/early 2000s all the way to the class of 2024 — took part in Friday’s games.

The rules were outlined by Spell via the PA system — two 30-minute halves, with a five minute halftime in between. Women must be substituted in with 20 minutes left in each half, and substitutions were at the coach’s discrection once the clock hit 10 minutes. Players were able to be subbed out as needed at any point, though, so the substitution rules were not steadfast.

The winner of each game would faceoff in a penalty kick shootout to determine the overall winner upon the conclusion of the second game. Each team’s five shooters had to consist of two women and three men.

As the rain stopped, the humidity picked up, and the first game began, Spell took to the announcer’s booth for what ended up being a night full of laughter, both for him and the crowd, as he announced the games with plenty of personal anecdotes thrown into the mix.

First game — Team 1 (Gray, Head Coach Jamie Williams) vs. Team 3 (Gold, Head Coach Jeff Smith)

The first game set the tone early, with the gold team scoring a goal within the first two minutes of play. Lukas Jerez was in goal for Team 1, and Chris Bell was goalkeeper for Team 3.

Team 3 doubled up their goals, scoring a second goal with 15:32 left in the first half, off the foot of 2009 CHS grad Hector Acosta. They were only leading shots on goal by one at that point, 3-2.

About two minutes and two shots on goal later, Peter Darden put Team 1 on the board at the 13:27 mark. Spell referred to him as a “4-time conditioning champ, eliciting laughter from the audience and the teams.

Shots on goal were heavy for the gray team, as they snuck another one past Jerez with 10:15 to go in the opening half, putting their total shots at six, while the gold team only had three.

At halftime, Spell stepped down from the announcer’s booth to hand out t-shirts to the crowd, which helped put some energy back into the stadium.

As the teams flipped sides of the field after the half, Team 1 in gray found the back of the net again with their continued onslaught of offense. Just 2.5 minutes into the second half, on their eighth shot, they got another one by Bell, making the score 3-2.

About halfway through the second half, Jonathan Jacobs received the first yellow card of the night, which Spell had a laugh about with the crowd — Jacobs is the former head coach of Hobbton, who took them to the state championship last year, and is currently an assistant under Spell.

With 24 minutes of no scoring, Team 3 tied the game up, as they bounced back with an offensive onslaught of their own, pelting Jerez with 9 shots on goal, compared to Team 1’s 10.

As the sun continued to set — both in the sky and on the final minutes of the first game — no more scoring happened, which led to a penalty kick shootout.

Team 1 emerged victorious, getting every shot behind the goalkeeper, winning 5-4 in PKs.

Second game – Team 2 (Gold, Head Coach Mitchell Brewington) vs. Team 4 (Gray, Head Coach Kayla Yang)

Taking a page from the first game’s book, Team 2 used just 1 minute and 14 seconds to get the scoring show started in game two, as Edye Carr was unable to stop the first shot on goal by the team in gold.

Dalton King was between the pipes for Team 2, and Carr was there for Team 4.

Jacob Bauman recorded another quick strike goal, as Team 2 jumped out to a 2-0 lead with 27:30 left in the first half. Two shots on goal led to two goals for Brewington’s strikers.

Quality, not quantity, was the name of the game for both teams, as Team 2 finally got one past King just past the 3 minute mark into the first half, making the score 2-1 in favor of Team 2. Their shots on goal reflected these same numbers.

Barely over a minute later, the team in gray struck net again, and tied the game at 2-2.

Less than 10 minutes after that, they once again found themselves on the right side of the score, going up 3-2.

Efficiency was still the name of the game, as Team 4 was 4-for-4 on shots on goal with 11:21 to go in the first half, giving them a 4-2 lead.

But Team 2 was not done yet. With 7:09 left in the first half, they struck back to make it 4-3.

And they continued the attack in the second half, scoring just past 2 minutes into the final half of play, tying it at 4-4, and again with 25:50 to go, making it 5-4 in their favor.

No more scores would happen the rest of the game, and Team 2 took the win.

Final shootout

Team 1 and Team 2 lined their PK teams up still with the same 3-2 mixture as the previous shootout. Team 2 came out victorious, winning 3-1, and winning the night overall.