“Guts, grit, and determination,” that’s how Barons boys Varsity Soccer coach Jason Smith described the Barons 2nd straight league win of the season, against Huntington Beach, which put them atop Sunset league after the first week of play.
The Barons opened up the season at Newport Harbor High School under the stadium lights. A team they had already faced and beaten in the Marina tournament, the Barons knew what to expect and were confident coming into the game. From the start the Barons controlled the play of the game and had early attempts at goal. The first half saw many chances from the Barons, but they were unable to convert and the game stayed 0-0 into the 2nd half.
In the 2nd Newport Harbor came out stronger and tested the Barons with some early shots, yet the Baron defense held strong. Solid play through the middle and the back kept the pressure on from the Sailors; the rest of the game and after relentless chances the Barons finally converted in the final 10 minutes of the game off a battle in the box, with Eric Shearer (’12) finally putting the ball in the goal. The Barons then frantically battled in the back to seal the game. After some frightfully close calls in the final minutes of the game the Barons were relieved to have their first win of season. The Barons made the game closer than it could have been but in the end they came away with the 3 points by winning an important first game in the league.
On Friday the 6th, the Barons took on the Huntington Beach Oilers once again under the lights away from home. The Barons were forced to play the most intense game of the year and were caught off guard by the frantic passion and sporadic nature of the Oilers from the very start of the game. The Barons were rattled and it only took 15 minutes for the Oilers to score the first goal of the game after a ball bounced through the barons and was put away in the box.
The rest of the first half the Barons battled back and after pressure on the HB defense, the Oilers gave up a foul right outside the box. Ethan Morrow (’12) stepped up to the dead ball and rifled a shot that bounced off of an Oiler and fooled the goalie, and tied the game for the Barons. When the second half came around the Barons knew their opponent and matched the heart and intensity of the play. The story of the second half was the referee unfortunately. The center man gave out a total of 5 yellow cards two of them to Barons, Morrow and Garrett Stiffler-Greasby (’13), coach Jason Smith was not far from his own yellow card as well. The Barons were seemingly fighting against two teams the second half and could not overcome the stop and go play calling of the ref and the passionate Oilers to score a game winner.
The game went into a two 10 minute halves of over time, with the game tied at 1-1. Huntington Beach once again shocked the Barons and scored very early on after the OT kickoff. The sudden lead though gave the Oilers an overconfident feeling and the kickoff after the goal Joseph Solimon (’13) almost single-handedly dribbled the entire Oilers team and rocketed the ball into the goal off a near post shot to tie it 2-2 in OT. The Barons from this point had all the momentum of the game and pounded the Oilers with corners, shots, and all kinds of offensive pressure. Into the 2nd OT the Barons kept up the pressure and after chances trading back and fourth between the teams, the center ref called a penalty kick, from an Oiler handball in their 18-yard box. The ref that had been plaguing the Barons almost the entire game had given them the gift to take the win. Morrow, leading goal scorer for the Barons, stepped up to the dead ball again this time 12 yards from the goal and easily smacked it away for the game winner.
The Barons won their second game of the week and with some help from other Sunset League teams stepped atop the Sunset League with a 2-0-0 record and an overall record of 10-3-3. The Barons have an all-important third game this week on Wednesday against rival Edison, who has gone 0-0-2 early on and sits at the bottom of the league with Huntington Beach. The Barons have a chance to build some momentum in their season as they take on the other contenders for a league title in Edison, Marina, and Los Al and finish out the first half of league. So far the Barons have played very tight games, but that is expected in the Sunset League and every game will be a tight battle until the end or even beyond the end of regulation time.
