The McClatchy Lions played against the Davis Blue Devils on Tuesday, February 13th. McClatchy had a huge crowd cheering them on as they stepped onto the pitch; the audience included family, friends, coaches, and even college scouts!
The starting lineup was as follows: #8 Alexis Ramos, Goalkeeper; #22 Vicente Robles, Right Center Back; #15 Reid Paskey, Left Center Back; #11 Joseph Gray, Right Outside Back; #21 Kevin Miller, Left Outside Back; #6 Adali Parra, Defensive Midfield; #13 Ethan Roach, Left Winger; #10 Darwin Mendiola, Right Winger; #18 Kevin Aguilar, Center Midfield; #17 Nathaniel Ochoa, Center Field; and #9 Frank Thao, Center Forward.
McClatchy started with the ball in the first half, and the game started off strong. In no more than 20 minutes, McClatchy scored a beautiful goal by Kevin Aguilar with a chip that had speed on it, and all the boys got up and yelled and ran to the side of the field, cheering on their teammate Kevin. The crowd went crazy and chanted; McClatchy was up 1-0.
Both teams were getting fouled from left to right, and McClatchy got fouled in the box, which caused a penalty kick for them.
A memorable moment came when Nathaniel Ochoa stepped up to the box ready to take the kick. Everyone went silent, and then the whistle blew. Bottom left, straight to the back of the post; therewent one heck of a penalty for Nathaniel Ochoa.
McClatchy’s goalkeeper, Alexis Ramos, came off the field limping when he had hurt his knee during one of the plays but chose to stay in and battle it through for the team for the rest of the half.
McClatchy was sitting at 2-0 right in time when the 1st half was done.There was a switch goalkeepers, and Israel played in goal as the 2nd half began. The crowd cheered so loud that the other side of the field could hear them. McClatchy unfortunately got caught off guard and made a mistake, and the Davis Blue Devils scored a goal, making the score 2-1.
But McClatchy did not let that get to their heads and instead used it as a tool to make sure they won this match with everything they’ve got! McClatchy got the ball from the defense up to Emilio Godnick, and he got past the last line of Davis and had a one-on-one moment with the goalkeeper and shot a magnificent mid-air ball to the right of the goalkeeper. Everyone was so hyped and jumped around, and the boys all gathered together to celebrate the amazing goal.
The whistle was blown for the game to be over in 10 minutes after Emilio’s goal, and everyone celebrated getting ready to shake hands with the opposing team. McClatchy gave it their all out on that field. It was a great game for the Lions!