Physical match favors Brandon

By BRANDON WRIGHT
Published February 11, 2005

BRANDON - Saying the Brandon-Alonso match Thursday was wild would be an understatement. The match featured a combined 34 fouls, 10 yellow cards, one red card and three players sent off. Sheriff's deputies even escorted a rowdy fan from Pat Fussell Field.

Alonso played most of the second half a man down and Brandon took advantage, scoring three unanswered for a 3-1 victory.

"Obviously, Alonso playing a man down helped," Brandon coach Allen Ware said. "After that we kind of got the momentum and kept it."

Brandon's Ethan Walker headed home the equalizer in the 45th minute, tying the score at 1. But the biggest play came two minutes later when the referee red-carded Alonso midfielder Bobby Durham for verbal abuse, meaning the Ravens finished a man down.

Three minutes later, the Eagles capitalized.

Senior Kirk LaBusch trapped a ball at the top of the box and fired a hard, bouncing shot that eluded diving Alonso goalkeeper Andrew Madero. Brandon put the match out of reach in the 58th minute on an Andy Skiffington free kick from about 40 yards out.

After LaBusch's goal, Alonso played without seniors Jonathan Betancur and Ryan Vetzel, who were sent off for receiving two yellow cards.

"The match just got out of hand," Ware said. "And I don't think Brandon or Alonso was necessarily to blame."

Bloomingdale put forth a spirited effort but came up short at Orlando Freedom. Despite taking a 1-0 lead early in the second half, the Bulls could not hold on and fell 4-1 to the Patriots (21-1-1, No. 6 in 6A). Bloomingdale (7-8-3) was down five players, including leading scorer Alex Muniz (21 goals, 17 assists) because of an outbreak of the flu on Wednesday.

- TIMES STAFF

[Last modified February 11, 2005, 00:53:10]