It’s always a big game when Newcastle plays Chickasha in soccer. It’s an intense rivalry between teams in close proximity and usually harbors some unusual circumstances.
The game last week was no exception.
The Fightin’ Chicks beat the Racers 1-0 when they scored with about 12 minutes remaining and the ball deflected from a freshman defender and went in.
Coach Tom Pecore said, “I need to remind myself of how young this team is. We do not have one senior starting where as Chickasha has 9.”
Pecore said they are bigger, stronger and faster, and the Racers forgot some of their training. As Chickasha had the wind in the second half, they “just lumped everything long,” Pecore said.
“My boys fell into the same trap of trying to drive long balls into the wind,” he said. “They forgot to play soccer as we had trained. They stopped challenging 50/50 balls and panicked.”
He said the boys are beaten emotionally and bruised, but the day after was a day of recovery.
What really got Pecore upset was that he was given a yellow card. Pecore said after 15 minutes in the second half, the ref jogged over to him and gave him the card, saying that the Chickasha coach had seen a necklace under the jersey of one of the Newcastle backs.
“I was shocked,” Pecore said. “I did not once yell at the ref or challenge any call he made. Up to that point he called a good game.”
The coach said he was very upset.
“Of all the cards I have gotten in my coaching career, I have never gotten one because one of my players failed to take a religious necklace off,” Pecore said. “Normally they would just make the player come off the field and take the necklace off.
“I suspect that I will be able to laugh this off someday, but not today.”
Pecore said Newcastle had three really good opportunities to score on the day, and Chickasha had only the one. The loss placed Newcastle at number 2 in District 4A-1.
The Racers beat Harrah 5-1 last week, giving Newcastle a 3-1 district record and an 8-3 record overall. Toby Batchelder scored three goals for the Racers. Newcastle has games with Cache, Ada and Madill to round out regular season play.
