With outstanding crowds watching - reminiscent of mid-March - on both Opening Day, January 5 and the following Final's Sunday, Ron Bonaguidi's Mr. Hanalei Bay (12 Goal) and Pat Powell's Blazers (6 Goal) grabbed the spoils in the 2014 Wendell Kerley Memorial Tournament.The 12 Goal final was indeed interesting with Ron Bonaguidi's Mr. Hanalei Bay riding the waves against Krista Bonaguidi's Mrs. Hanalei Bay - yup, husband vs. wife.Before the start, many thought that Mr. might lay back and concede a win, and the prized Chris Kerley spurs would go to 'the Mrs.' - in the interest of being a good husband. Not long after the start, it was very apparent that was not going to be the case - not even close - as the ultra competitive Mr. (0) along with Marianno Fassetta (6), Juan Curbelo (4), and Remy Muller (2) jumped out to an early first period lead of 4 - 1 over Mrs. (-1) who lined up with Joe Henderson (4), Jason Crowder (6), and Ashton Wolf (3). In fact, the first goal came immediately after the first throw-in.The second wasn't much better for the marriage as the lead was increased to four goals with the second ending at 6 - 2.Both teams scored twice in the third and the half ended with Ron leading Krista by, once again, four goals. The count was 8 - 4.Any thought - and there was - that anyone might have had about a reconciliation in the fourth period vanished as Fassetta and Curbelo simply destroyed anything that Krista's group tried to muster and the chukker ended and the lead was now five goals at 10 - 5.Scoring was once again even in the fifth - at one each - and the lead remained five going to the final.In the sixth and with the victory in hand, after another quick counter to lead by six, Mr. and his surfers pretty much sat on their boards and Mrs. was able to score three - with Krista counting a pair. But it was too late as the game ended with a final score of 12 - 9 and Mr. Hanalei Bay would now ride the waves with brand new Kerley spurs.Fassetta was the high scorer on the day with nine goals ( 1 foul, #4).)
In the 6 Goal, the Blazers lined up against Jenny Luttrell-Benardoni and her Cotterel Farms organization. For Powell, unable to play due to a concussion suffered the day before, Kyle Fargey (3) would lead along with Kimo Huddleston (2), Malia McCoy (.5), and Nicolas Llambias (0) (replacing Powell). Cotterel saddled up with Luttrell-Benardoni (0), Francisco Benardoni (1), Danny Walker (2), and Ignacio Saracco (3).Taking a handicap award of one-half at the start, the Blazers played as named in the first period and took a lead of 1.5 to nil to the second.Cotterel came back in the second to count twice to one for the Blazers and the second ended with Powell's team leading by the handicap at 2.5 - 2.The Blazers shut out Cotterel in the third and fourth stanzas to lead 4.5 - 2 at halftime and 5.5 - 2 going to the fifth.Cotterel got organized in the penultimate frame and scored twice early on to make it interesting but Powell's crew got one back to snuff the comeback and it was 6.5 - 4 with one to go.The sixth was pretty much all Blazers as they counted four before a reply from Cotterel and the Wendell Kerley Memorial 6 goal awards went to the Blazers by a score of 10.5 - 5.Fargey led all scorers with six goals (2 fouls, # 2's).Chris Kerley, the maker of the coveted spurs, was on hand to present the awards for both games, along with Wendell Kerley's grandchildren, Ryan and Hope Kerley.Tony Gregg