No. 1 seed Mason Martin Construction and No. 3 Anna Maria CrossFit squared off Jan. 26 for the Paul “Ace” Hayward Championship Cup on the field at the Center of Anna Maria Island, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria.
The first 10 minutes of the match was competitive, with Anna Maria CrossFit earning the early scoring opportunities. In the second minute, Mason Martin cleared the ball out from its own end, but Ryan Moss ran onto the ball and unleashed a laser that just cleared the crossbar.
Three minutes later, Moss settled a Mason Martin goal kick near midfield and passed outside to Jessica Williams. Williams carried the ball forward before cutting back and hitting a left-footed cross toward Rico Beissert. Mason Martin defender Charles Buky stepped up to clear the ball. It scooted over his foot, but Beissert controlled the ball and beat Mason Martin goalie Ben Sato near post for a 1-0 Anna Maria CrossFit lead.
The goal seemed to wake up Mason Martin as they took control of the flow from that point on. Lexi Sato had a go from 25 yards, but her shot was just wide of the upper-right corner of the goal.
Mason Martin won the ball back and got a corner kick for Anthony Barberio, who hit a hard-curling cross into the goal mouth that bounced off a defender and into the goal to tie the score at 1-1.
Three minutes later, Barberio settled a long goal kick, turned and unleashed a 27-yard rocket into the lower-left corner of the goal for a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish.
M-M continued to pressure the CrossFit defense and, with minutes left in the first half, M-M scored again after a nice build up of passes between Barberio, Lexi Sato and Ted Hurst. Hurst finished it off with a strong shot from 20 yards to push the lead to 3-1.
Six minutes into the second half, Mason Martin was again pressuring the CrossFit defense. Lexi Sato, finding no room to operate, passed the ball to Barberio, who beat two defenders up the left side before blasting a rocket, beating CrossFit goalie Olaf Krause near post for a 4-1 lead.
Two minutes later, Nate Welch received the ball on the left side, cut in and hit a strong shot that was saved by Krause, but Frank Agnelli pounced the rebound and knocked it in for a 5-1 lead.
Welch got on the scoreboard 5 minutes later when Hurst received a throw in from Tara Stutts and dropped it back to Welch, who hit a low, hard shot that squirted through Krause’s hands for a 6-1 M-M lead.
With 9 minutes to play, CrossFit built a nice counter attack. Will Kretzman carried the ball forward and passed to Beissert, but Barberio read the play perfectly and picked it off. He carried the ball up the left side, drawing three defenders before passing to a wide-open Lexi Sato on the back post. She easily deposited the ball into the goal to increase the M-M lead to 7-1.
CrossFit continued to fight and came close to scoring with just over 6 minutes to play when Matt Jeronimo picked off a Mason Martin pass and carried it forward. He drew the defender and passed it to Lynn Clarke. Clarke carried it towards the goal, but Mason Martin goalie Nick Sato came off his line and smothered the ball, denying Clarke.
Barberio led the way in the 7-1 Mason Martin victory with three goals and an assist, while Agnelli, Hurst, Lexi Sato and Welch added single goals.
Beissert scored the lone goal for CrossFit on an assist from Williams.
Flag football moves into third week of action
Center youth completed a third week of flag football action Jan. 28 with a full slate of games in three age divisions.
The standings are pretty tight so far, with only one team in the 11-13 division — Miller Electric— boasting a perfect 3-0 record.
Bark & Co. Real Estate is on top of the 8-10 division with a 2-1-1 record, with Truly Nolen and Lancaster Design right on its heels with matching 2-1 records. Salty Printing is alone in fourth with a 2-2 record, followed by Beach to Bay Construction at 1-1-1, Cloud Pest Control at 1-2 and Slim’s Place at 1-3.
Miller Electric is closely followed in the 11-13s by Progressive Cabinetry and Planet Stone at 2-1. Tyler’s Ice Cream follows at 1-2, while Anna Maria Oyster Bar is still in search of their first victory.
Intechgrate Systems sits atop the 14-17 division with a 2-0-1 record, closely pursued by 2-1 Air & Energy. Sign-A-Rama is alone in third with a 1-1-1 record, while Duncan Real Estate brings up the rear at 0-3.
Air & Energy edged Sign-A-Rama 25-19 to open 14-17 division action Jan. 28. Quarterback Rutger Langley threw three touchdown passes, including two to Corey Jacques to lead the offense, which also received a touchdown reception from Chancelor Hayward. Roman Langley completed the scoring with an interception return for a touchdown and a 2-point conversion.
Tuna McCracken, David Daigle and Connor Ludwig each scored touchdowns for Sign-A-Rama in the loss.
Intechgrate defeated Duncan 24-14 behind two touchdowns from Lane Burnett. Joe Peery added a touchdown and a 2-point conversion, while Ethan Breslin and Nate Hyman added 2-point conversions to complete the scoring for Intechgrate.
Mac May threw touchdown passes to John McCauley and Jackson Hayes, while Chris Snyder added a 2-point conversion in the loss.
Miller Electric showed why they’re tops in the 11-13s with a 28-0 thumping of AMOB. Shawn Balvin led the way with two touchdown receptions and two interception returns for touchdowns. Quarterback Gavin Johnston threw two touchdown passes and added a pair of 2-point conversions in the victory.
Progressive Cabinetry edged Tyler’s Ice Cream 21-14 in the second 11-13 game behind three touchdown passes by quarterback Elijah Newman. Charlie Halfacre had a pair of touchdown receptions and Ginger Muro had one in the victory.
Devin Calderon had a huge game for Tyler’s, rushing for one touchdown and grabbing four interceptions, including one he returned for a touchdown.
Salty Printing opened the 8-10 division action with a 20-6 victory over Cloud Pest Control behind two touchdown receptions by Riley Lawson and one from Colton Shook. Quarterback Nick Yatros had three touchdown passes in the game.
Luke Winsper threw one touchdown pass to Mike Bowes, while also adding a pair of interceptions on defense to lead Cloud Pest Control in the loss.
Andrew Hyman threw two touchdown passes to Peyton Harlan, while scoring a touchdown of his own to lead Lancaster Design past Slim’s Place by an 18-13 score.
Brad McDonald scored a touchdown and threw a TD pass to Harrison Schenerlein to lead Slim’s Place in the loss.
Bark & Co. Real Estate edged Truly Nolen 20-14 in the 8-10 division game. Quarterback Tommy Baugher scored a touchdown and threw for two more to lead Bark, which also received touchdown receptions from Jocelyn Raines and Ashton Hovda.
Duncan Finley threw two touchdown passes to Aiden Templeton to lead Truly Nolen in the loss.
Register now for Gulf Coast Senior Games
Calling all 50-and-over athletes. Registration is winding down for the 27th annual Gulf Coast Senior Games, which will take place Feb. 13-21 at various locations in Manatee and Sarasota counties.
Senior athletes can register online at parksonline.scgov.net. However, they need to act quickly as the deadline to enter is Feb. 1.
Events at the 2017 games include archery, basketball shooting, bocce ball, bowling, cribbage, cycling, golf, horseshoes, pickleball, racquetball, shuffleboard, swimming, Ping-Pong, tennis and track and field.
Key Royale golf action
The Key Royale Club golfers got started with 23 men braving the wind and rain Jan. 23 to play a nine-hole modified-Stableford System or quota-points match.
Tom Perkins carded a plus-5 to take individual first-place honors, while Quentin Talbert grabbed second place with a plus-4.
Forty-nine men participated in a nine-hole afternoon scramble Jan. 26.
The team of Gary Alvord, Herb Clauhs, Gary Razze and Terry Schaefer combined on a 6-under-par 26 to earn clubhouse bragging rights for the day. The team of Mike Brakefield, Ton Butzek, Scottt Mitchell and Bob Terhar were alone in second at 28, while the team of Marty Hicks, Jim Hitchen, Gary Risner and Jim Watt were another shot back in third.
Horseshoe news
Three teams advanced to the knockout stage during Jan. 25 horseshoe action at the Anna Maria City Hall horseshoe pits. The team of Tim Sofran and Dom Livedoti drew the bye into the finals and watched as Bob Lee and Norm Good rolled to an easy 21-9 victory over Bob Palmer and Bob Brown. In the finals, Lee and Good were too good, taking out Sofran and Livedoti on a 23-10 final.
Livedoti and Al Kigly were the only team to post a 3-0 pool-play record during Jan. 28 action and were the day’s outright champs.
Play gets underway at 9 a.m. every Wednesday and Saturday at the Anna Maria pits. Warmups begin at 8:45 a.m. followed by random team selection. There is no charge to play and everyone is welcome.