It was the last regular season game of the 2022 SCLAX season. The Beverly Hills squad is fighting for second place with The Westside Express who will have to travel down to San Diego next week to play league leading 40 Thieves while the Bucks have a bye. Venice is just playing for the sport of it. There was never any doubt who was going to walk away with the victory.
The flow of the game was irrelevant….it was all Bucks all the time. The Bucks led 4-0 after one, 10-0 at the half, 16-0- after three and finished the game outscoring Venice 20-1. Individual stats were:
- Alex Dixon the four goals and four uncharacteristic assist
- Mike Delabar had a goal and an assist scoring on the former Thousand Oaks goalie who he mentored to greatness
- George Pertessis went for two scores and two assists scoring both goals solo and from way downtown
- John Jossi had two goals
- Slamming Sammy Edwards, with the bleachers packed with his supporters scored five goals…one quickstick, two golf shots and two from outside
- Sean Kane, giving up his body to ground ball after ground ball managed to put three into the net and assisted Dixon with another
- Alex Jessup, showing off for Jemma, his soon to be a better scorer than her dad had a goal and an assist
- Grant Firestone had two assists, one off a clearing outlet from Bucks keeper Mark Bell to Sean Kane for a tally
- New Buck Mike Reale, after blowing two shots on the doorstep found his footing and beat the Venice keeper for two goals and an assist.
- Old Buck Johnny Brasko, playing in his seventeenth season with the Hills squad did what he does best and feed from Mike Deale, cranked up his pole and rocketed the shot into the net
Other things to note….. Legend in his own mind face off specialist Jared Jacobs went 18/25 at the “X”…John Brasko, Curran Sullivan, Sean Kane, John Jossi, JD Johnson, Alex Jessup, Kevin Berlandi and Grant Firestone each had at least one takeaway. Buck keeper Mark Bell filled in for absent keepers Ron Fernando & Brad Brandenburg giving up only one goal for the afternoon on nine shots. And my personal “game highlight” was Kevin Berlandi sprinting after a ground ball along the sideline on a clear and goosing the ball around his Venice counterpart, recontrolling it and pushing it up to a waiting Hills player to initiate the offence….well done Kevin!
Next week the Bucks will be off but will stay focused on the prize and have a scrimmage to stay sharp. The following week the league shuts down for Memorial Day and the following weekend, June 4th & 5th the league will host its Final Four Weekend. Right now the Bucks sit in third place with a loss to both Westside Express and 40 Thieves Westside Express sits in second with only one loss to Beverly Hills but will have to travel next week to play the one loss Thieves. It’s going to be one hell of an end to the season.
