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And play they did.

For the first twenty minutes it looked like Lee Mt. Vernon (LMV) was the better side. The ball was in the Viper end for much of that time, and the opponents got off some decent shots. The Red and Black defense, however, was up to the challenge and held on under pressure.

The momentum clearly shifted midway through the period when Chris Giangi headed in a beautiful corner kick from Travis Dezendorf for the eventual game-winning goal. For the rest of the game, the Vipers were in control of their own destiny. LMV threatened a few times, but rock-steady keeper John Weeks, sweeper Tony Soukup, outside back Sean Jenkins, Giangi, outside back John Thomas, and Dezendorf came up absolutely huge when they had to. Weeks alone almost seemed to will this one to its amazing conclusion with several brilliant saves that frustrated the LMV attackers.

I had many visions of how the last Viper game would go, but this wasn't really one of them. In ten years of coaching and almost 200 games, I have only witnessed one other bloody Viper. This time there were three--all accidental--and two occurring within seconds of each other. What a strange sight it was to see Sam Porter and Jordan Stanbridge walking toward me holding their faces to stem the blood. I still can't quite comprehend the weirdly backward kick that ended up hitting Dezendorf in the mouth soon after that.

No one, not a single Viper, ever gave up. They easily could have, but they never did. And that was the difference in the game.

Today these eleven guys are my heroes. I will remember them as the team that won the final Viper match; the team that played their hearts out under brutal sunshine; the team that never showed any doubt that they would win; the team that played as well with nine on the field as they did with eleven; the team that got stronger as the game went on; and, the team that quietly celebrated a special victory and the conclusion of ten years of great soccer.

The home page of this web site automatically displays the schedule (and captains) for the next Viper game by looking at the information in the supporting database. If you look now, you'll see there isn't a next game, and there never will be. And that's the way it will remain. If you look more closely, you'll see that the statistics for today's game show up under the heading "last game." It will stay that way as long as this site exists.

What a great game to have in that slot.

Play on, Vipers, in everything you choose to do.