When the going gets tough, the tough get going, and that’s exactly what the Pleasanton Rage U12 Premier team displayed last weekend. On Saturday in San Ramon, the team beat the San Ramon Illusion 2 to 1.
Kirsten Jensen fired the first goal from 25 yards. Cambi Cukar stole the ball from the Illusion and passed to Andi Boehm who passed Kira Ewanich. Ewanich crossed to Jessica Medina who scored the second goal. Outstanding aggressive plays by Lindsey Kail and McKalee Mooney and another super job by goalies Brittany Gray and Lexie Nicholas.
On Sunday, down by 2 at the half, the U12 team battled back to tie the game against the Mt. Diablo Storm. Haley Lukas crossed to Brianna Nicholas, who fired it into the net for the first goal. Ewanich fired a shot to the net, but the goalie’s finger tips stopped the goal. The ball bounced from the goalie’s hands and Nicole Fetsch kicked it into the net for the second goal ending the game with a tie. Great effort by Tori Larsen, Melissa Muller, Evan Murphy and Georgia Savage. –Kim Cukar
Senior 49ers dominate in PJFL play with 4-0 win over Cowboys
Using a dominating defense and an opportunistic offense, the Senior 49ers battled their way to a 14-0 win over the Cowboys in Pleasanton Junior Football League play.
The Niners defense allowed only one first down and intercepted a pair of passes, giving the offense plenty of chances to generate points.
In the first half, after Taylor Disbrow picked off a pass, the Niners got their offense rolling. On first down Brent Ramos went around left end for 20 yards to the Cowboys 19 yard line. Two plays later, Disbrow went around right end on a boot and got down to the one yard line. From there, he snuck in for the score. The extra point failed, and the Niners led 6-0 at the half.
After threatening on their second drive of the half, the Niners converted a long gainer for their second score. Facing a fourth-and-19 from the 39 Jacob Storti rolled to his right and hit a wide open Disbrow at the 15. Disbrow gathered in the wobbly pass, turned and sprinted into the end zone. Storti drilled another pass into Disbrow on the conversion to put the game out of reach.
–Coach Joe
U18 outplays Mt. Diablo Blast for 2-0 win
The BUSC U18 United got back to their winning ways with a strong 3-0 win over the visiting Mt. Diablo Blast last weekend.
United got on the board early following a direct kick from 30 yards. Trevor Danielson stepped into it and curled it high and away from the Blast keeper for the lead 10 minutes into the game. In the 26th minute, Danielson got a helper by leading David Norton down the right sideline. He beat his mark on the turn and blasted one near the post. The GK got a hand on it but couldn’t make the stop and the lead grew to 2-0.
Justin Mullaney, Tommy Sander and Danielson kept the Blast attackers bottled up all afternoon. A spectacular sequence at the end of the half found Nestor Negrete doing the heavy lifting, doing some strong work along the touchline to force a corner kick.
In the second half, Tigran Nahapetian created havoc in the Blast end, setting up several teammates but without a goal to show for it. Then, the Blast began to counter with some corner kicks, direct kicks and shots to put some pressure on United, but they escaped without incident.
Play began to get chippy while Ballistic tried to keep possession. Very late in the game, in the 89th minute, Webber made a save and quickly transitioned to Morrissey. He led Norton, who tricked two players and the keeper to score in close for the final goal. Mt. Diablo did try one last attempt to score, but after a ricochet on a Webber save, Mullaney was alert on his post to drive the attempt away and preserve the shutout. — Joe Carlucci
