Builders take Island Cup, championship honors ‘Ace’
The Island Cup final Dec. 4 in the Anna Maria Island Community Center adult soccer league came down to Dojo Martial Arts and Eason Builders.
The game’s significance came into perspective prior to kickoff with an appearance by Paul “Ace” Hayward, a longtime soccer player and coach who has been in a long battle against renal cancer.
Hayward received a somewhat unexpected release from Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa after a two-week stay, arriving at the community center soccer field to say hello to friends and for the unveiling of the new Paul “Ace” Hayward Island Cup, which will be awarded annually to the adult championship team.
When the action got started, second-seeded Eason Builders jumped out to an early 1-0 lead with a bit of luck as Dojo Martial Arts goalie Adam Mott made a kick save on a close-range shot by Matt Plummer, but the ball bounced off a Dojo defender’s chest and went in the goal.
The rest of the half saw a lot of long balls and half-chances by both teams, but none resulted in clear-cut scoring opportunities until extra time. Chris Klotz made a hard tackle and the ball ended up on the feet of Nate Coleman on the right side. Coleman finished to give Eason Builders a 2-0 halftime lead.
One minute into the second half, Plummer got loose up the right side and crossed inside to Joey Ciasullo, who volleyed the ball home for a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead.
Dojo had a good scoring chance minutes later when Adam Bujarski found some space on the left edge of the box, but his left-footed blast went just wide of the far post.
Two minutes later, Chris Circharo carried the ball up the right side, passing inside to Bujarski, whose shot beat Eason Builders’ goalie Wes Robinson near post to cut the Eason lead to 3-1.
Dojo continued to battle hard, but the Eason defense held strong. Gazzo threw the ball into Circharo, who popped the ball over his head and down the line to Bujarski, who appeared to be in prime position to score. However, Scott Eason came from out of nowhere to deflect the shot out of bounds.
Undaunted, Dojo came right back with a promising attack led by Bujarski. He carried the ball up the left side, where a strong tackle by Jeff Walker ignited a quality counter attack. Walker passed across the field to Plummer, who carried the ball up the left side. He drew the defender in and then deftly passed the ball to the right side, where Walker came streaking in to finish near post, extending the Eason lead to 4-1 with virtually no time left on the clock.
Dojo quickly worked the ball out of their end. Gazzo passed the ball out to Circharo, who knocked the ball across to Adriana Gauntz. Gauntz slid the ball up the left sideline to Bujarski, whose shot tucked just inside the far post as time ran out on a 4-2 Eason Builders victory.
Plummer led the Eason Builders attack with a goal and an assist while Ciasullo, Coleman and Walker each added a goal. Sean Sanders, Klotz and Eason were strong in front of goalie Wes Robinson, who finished with 13 saves in the victory.
Bujarski notched both goals for Dojo Martial Arts, which received strong play from Chelsey Hofner, Adriana Gauntz, Gazzo and Circharo in front of goalie Adam Mott, who made 14 saves in the loss.
Eason Builders advanced to the finals thanks to a 6-3 victory over Wash Family Construction Dec. 3. Matt Plummer and Chris Klotz led the way with a pair of goals each, while Nate Coleman and Jeff Walker each added one goal to the victory total.
Wash Family Construction received two goals in the loss from Shawn Stanley and one goal from Alisha Keene.
The second semifinal match of the evening saw Dojo Martial Arts record a 6-3 upset of top-seeded Jessie’s Island Store. Bujarski led the way with four goals, while Circharo added two goals in the victory.
Jessie’s was led by single goals from Matt Kretzman, Jeff Christianson and Holly Belton.
Horseshoe news
Three teams came out of group play with the requisite three victories in Dec. 3 horseshoe action at the Anna Maria City Hall horseshoe pits. Art Kingstad and Bob Palmer drew the bye and watched as Hank Huyghe and Rod Bussey rolled into the final thanks to a 23-8 victory over John Crawford and Bruce Munro. Huyghe and Bussey continued their hot play in the finals with an easy 23-6 victory over Kingstad and Palmer.
Bussey was back in the winner’s circle in Dec. 6 horseshoe action. This time he teamed up with Bob Palmer on the only 3-0 pool-play record and the day’s outright championship.
Play gets underway at 9 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday at the Anna Maria City Hall pits. Warmups begin at 8:45 a.m.
Key Royale golf news
The men got back on the Key Royale Club links for a couple of rounds of golf last week. On Dec. 1, the men played a nine-hole, modified-Stableford system or quota-points match. Mike Gillie led all golfers with a plus-5, ahead of Bob Soos and Bob Lang, who tied for second with matching plus-3s.
The team of Art McMillan, Tom Nelson, Rich Papini and Lang won the team competition with a combined score of plus-2.
The women played a nine-hole, individual-low-net match in four flights Dec. 2. They also played a side game of low putts.
Phyllis Roe burned up the course with a 7-under-par 25 to take first place in Flight A, seven strokes ahead of second-place finishers Helen Pollock and Marlyn Thorton.
Joy Kaiser’s 14 putts were the low putts for Flight A, with Margrit Layh one putt behind in second place.
Joyce Brown and Kris Landkammer both carded 5-under-par 27s to finish in a tie for first place in Flight B.
The men were out again Dec. 4 for a nine-hole, four-person scramble. The team of Chet Hutton, Art McMillan, Larry Pippel and Ron Vandeman combined on a 5-under-par 27 to take first place. Three shots back in second place was the team of Jim Kirk, Tom Nelson, Rich Papini and Quentin Talbert. Rita Allan and Sharon Tarras tied for low putts with 14 each.
Jan Turner’s 3-under-par 29 gave her first place in Flight C, while Shirley Cessna and Maryanne Kaemmerlen won low putts with 17.
Marcia O’Brien took first place in Flight D with a 6-under-par 26 while Anne Hitchen’s 18 putts were the best of the group.