The Fog of War

NEW PORT RICHEY - One week and 20 years ago, the Philadelphia Eagles played the Bears in a playoff game in Chicago that was later coined the "Fog Bowl." Dense fog rolled off Lake Michigan allowing for 10-20 feet of visibility in a 20-12 Bear victory.

Reminiscent of those conditions, another Bear team, the Central High Bears, went to River Ridge and played a surreal soccer match that got foggier and crazier as the night progressed. Several injuries, two penalty kicks, four yellow cards and three red cards later, the Bears came out victorious, 6-3, in a Class 5A, District 7 match much closer game than the score reveals.

Just eight minutes into the match, Central's Cody Grey received a pass down the left sideline, made a move to his right, and was illegally tackled giving him a penalty kick and his first goal of the evening. "I was thinking, just put it in," Grey said. "My knee was hurting and I wasn't very confident, but I wanted to take it, and I made it."

It started to look as if Central would run away with the game early.

Across the first 12 minutes, it had seven shots and two goals, the second goal coming from Nick Hernandez, who deflected a Will Anderson shot taken from the 35-yard line. River Ridge had yet to take a shot.

It took another eight minutes for River Ridge to get on the board.

"We didn't play our game, we weren't focused," said River Ridge Head Coach Mike McHugh. "We came out flat. They scored two goals on us before we could blink. We didn't play our game, we came in with big heads and we weren't focused at all. They were smacked down to reality tonight."

At 15:50, the Royal Knights' John Thompson had the first of his two assists. From the sideline, he found Drew Peterson in the middle. This pulled Bear Kyle Beach out of goal just enough to head it up and over, 2-1.

The fog, which had settled just above the playing field, was getting a little thicker, and started forming up around the lights. And an already very temperamental match was just heating up.

In the 22nd minute, Central's John Anderson was given the first of four yellow cards on the evening for unsportsmanlike behavior.

"We're pretty physical with each other," Grey said. "We've grown into a rivalry; they're definitely one of our rivals."

Five minutes later, Central's Will Anderson beat one man down the left sideline and then found Grey in the middle for his second and final goal of the evening, beating goalie Sean Jones, who had five saves.

The Bears now had a 3-1 lead and frustration was setting in on the Royal Knight's bench. River Ridge assistant coach Shawn Grimes was given the second yellow card of the match for dissent, when he disagreed with a call made by the official.

At halftime, tempers subsided, and the fog diminished slightly. But this was not an indication of things to come.

River Ridge came out quickly in the second half. Three minutes in, Royal Knight Eric Karcinski received a pass from teammate John Thompson and headed it past Beach, making the score 3-2.

Eight minutes into the half, Bear Will Anderson was hit with the third yellow card of the evening for unsportsmanlike behavior when he kicked the River Ridge goalie, who came out of the box to pick up a rolling ball.

Cue the fog, cue the tempers.

It finally happened at 14:30 into the second half. River Ridge's Taylor Watson was issued the first of three red cards when he grabbed Grey's jersey on a breakaway near the 20-yard line. The call by the referee was "denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity."

Watson was removed from the game. The ensuing direct kick yielded no results as Grey's kick sailed high over the crossbar.

At 22 minutes, Royal Knight senior Seth Wade was on the offensive when Central's John Anderson knocked him down inside the penalty area. A penalty kick was issued to River Ridge and Karcinski knocked it past Beach on the bottom right, tying the score 3-3.

All night long, River Ridge complained of bad officiating, and it was affecting them both on the field and on the sidelines.

The next yellow card came against Joey Balsamo of River Ridge for unsportsmanlike behavior. Shortly thereafter, Wade, who drew the last penalty kick, retaliated, and tackled Grey from behind. It was River Ridge's second red card of the night, and the referee's decision was "violent conduct, with no effort at the ball." Wade was ejected and, if he receives the full penalty from the FHSAA, may be disqualified for up to two weeks, including the district tournament.

"It's a shame, one of our player's career may have ended here tonight if he does, in fact, get a two-week suspension on a foul that, I don't know, doesn't seem as serious as it's getting written up. It's about intent," said McHugh in his player's defense. "He's a senior; if he's out two weeks, that's the district game. If we don't win that game we're done. That's the end of our season. I don't think he fully understands that."

The flagrant play angered Central's Darrin Foreman, who got into a shouting match with Wade, who was being escorted off of the field. Within minutes, Foreman had control of the ball near the 40-yard line, passed it through the Royal Knight defense, and found Will Anderson for his first of two goals on the evening, and the go ahead goal, 4-3.

The last red card of the night was also issued to Foreman when he, like Wade, made a tackle from behind that the referee deemed "serious foul play, with no effort at the ball."

Grey said of the Foreman's play, "To me, it looked like a clean tackle. It was ridiculous."

The fog now encompassed the field, rising from the grass to just over the crossbar of the goals, and encircled the lights, with a patch of clear air between the two. The game seemed out of control, and the coaches got together on the sidelines to discuss prevention of any more occurences.

On the field, Central wasn't finished. Mike Ogren beat Jones on a header for the team's fifth goal and Anderson scored his second goal before the final whistle blew, score 6-3.

"We're playing a lot better," said Bear Head Coach Hank Deslaurier. "We've gotten over some emotional things, but when we get down to just playing soccer we're a pretty good team. We've got a little bit of speed and we knock it around well. We're really pleased with our midfield. They're playing short and quick. We're trying to work hard on getting our forwards opportunities to finish balls. Because of the knock around injuries we've had, we've even developed a bench."