2003 Black Watch Labor Day Tournament

It was our second trip to the Black Watch Labor Day Tournament. Last year we took a whipping, but this time, with a year under our belt and considerably more confidence, we came ready to play. It was a bit challenging for us to sort out the complexity of playing 11v11 having played nothing but 8v8 and 3v3 for the past year, but the boys made the transition more easily than I expected.

In our first game we were matched up against a strong Black Watch team with good skills that worked the ball around well. We were not well organized for the first 5 minutes or so and could have easily given up a goal, but eventually the boys found their feet and started to gain control of the ball. By the end of the half I thought we had the edge on possession time, we had six shots on goal to their five. But they made one count on a break away that our coaches, defense, and goalie all thought was a clear offside. So at half time the score was 0-1 in favor of Black Watch.

We came out very strong in the second half and looked much more comfortable with the ball. We penetrated deep into Black Watch's half and had several opportunities to score. Finally Chase made a nice back pass from the corner and Mitch finished for our first goal of the tournament, tying the game and giving us a great boost. The boys continued to possess the ball well and didn't allow Black Watch much ground. Mitch knocked in another shot, but an offside call negated it. About 15 min into the half we made a large substitution. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to get set and before we knew it, Black Watch had one in the back of the net. A few minutes later we were still trying to find our feet when they scored again on a free kick. Down now by two the boys regained composure and fought hard but just couldn't finish. Although this one ended 1-3, I felt very good about our first game of the season. We had lost because of a few minutes of breakdowns. The rest of the game the boys were competitive and often had the upper hand. Danny made a number of excellent saves. Our defense was pretty solid although we didn't push up as well as we could have and allowed a bit too much space to develop between us and our mid field. But when the opposition threatened our defense was quick and well organized. Our attack was good, but we clearly needed to make better use of our wings and find the through balls to our speed up top.

Game 2 was against an excellent squad from Plant City, another region C team. They had some good speed and skill on the wings and some strong legs in the back and mid field. They had just won a tough game against Plantation in what was apparently a very physical battle. The first 5 minutes of this game were a bit bizarre. The ball was constantly in the air and there wasn't much ball control to be seen. But the boys eventually settled down and Cameron pounded in beautiful ball from the right wing. The momentum swung sharply in our favor and the boys did an excellent job of keeping the ball in the Plant City half. James was a strong presence in the middle and fought through several defenders to give us a second goal in the first half. At the half, up 2-0, the boys had outshot Plant City 7-2 and we were playing better than I could have expected this early in the season.

In the second half, Plant City was pumped. They came out hard and the game got more physical with calls going both ways. Although the tempo and style of play had changed, our kids continued to play with discipline. We worked a bit harder to hit the through balls we'd been lacking so far, and although our use of the wings was still not as instantaneous as it needs to be, the boys were hitting a few balls wide to spread the field. Landon finally took advantage of his speed and managed to knock in a pair of nice goals and Camp hammered in an unstoppable shot that skipped in off the goal post. Plant City managed to knock in one on a free kick, preventing the shut out, but leaving the Rampage with a 5-1 win.

Game 3 would be our most physical game of the tournament. We faced off against of tough region A team from Plantation. They had some big feet in the back and a few pounds on most of our players. Lots of shirt tugging and pushing, but most of our boys were unphased. We worked the ball extremely well in the middle of the field and did an excellent job of preventing their attackers from penetrating into our half. Mitch got us on the board first with a bottom of the foot shot that trickled over the line. A few minutes later Mitch crossed a free kick to the far post where Connor met it and finished nicely with a one touch for his first goal of the season. Up 2-0, we were looking solid. But Plantation was determined to come back. They continued to put on a physical battle and we did our best to work around it. But we started to make mistakes of our own and eventually a foul near our box gave them an opportunity for an indirect kick that scooted off one of our heads and into the goal. At half time, the score was 2-1 in our favor, but it was clear the we need to work hard to pull this one off.

In the second half the game got even more physical. We got worked over pretty well in our attacking half and I thought quite a few of our approaches to goal were foiled by play that should have been called foul. This half was a great defensive battle with most of it being waged in Plantation's half of the field. Neither team managed to score again. It was an impressive half of defense for our boys who allowed only 1 shot on goal, which Danny saved easily. In total the boys allowed only 5 shots on goal from Plantation, which is rather remarkable.

So we ended this tournament with two wins and a loss. A record that often would be good enough to allow us to advance to the second round. But in a division of 15 teams, only four could advance. The boys should be very proud of how far they've come since our début at Black Watch last year where we walked away having not even scored a goal. Our new players, Camp, Chase, Trace, Tyler, and AB all played great in their first real Rampage games. It was clear that several of our players had become stronger over the summer. I thought James, in particular, looked like a real force on the field. It's worth noting at this point that 3 out of 5 of the goals scored on us this weekend were on free kicks... something we'll have to work on in the coming weeks.

Each tournament we name a player to receive our sportsmanship award for displaying positive attitude, leadership, and other Rampage qualities. This tournament the award Cameron T. Congratulations Cameron and to all 16 who traveled to Tampa with us. It's an excellent start to what's bound to be a great year!

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