Paintball Team Narrowly Defeated
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Published on Monday, 16 March 2009 01:13
Well Done, Ave Coalition Boys
by Winfried Krepf, Coach, Ave Coalition
The boys from the Ave Coalition paintball team were up to defend their D5-D4 division championship in SW Florida Saturday. By a hair's breadth, however, and with some perhaps dubious referee calls, they made it to a very well deserved, fabulous second place.
"What an excitement, what a thrill," said Tim Delaney, the team captain from the Ave team. "We were the better team but we were not lucky enough".
The tournament is a twice-yearly event in the SW Florida area. Ten teams were registered which made it a more than six-hour event in the beating sun. More than 125 people attended or watched the tournament on the Collier Fairgrounds off Immokalee Road.
"It was our second tournament so far. We are still forming our team and we hope that we can make it to the Central Florida tournament in Lakeland very soon", said Max Krepf, the Back Insert Player.
The qualifying round and the semi-final were a blast for the Ave team. 10:0 was the result after 4 hours until the first defeat showed up.
I can tell you as their coach that the way the boys played, how they prayed before every game and how they carried out the name of Ave Maria was more than impressive.
The finals started with a clear win but it was reduced to a tie after the referee said that Max's gun bounced. The first win followed, then a defeat and everybody was glued to the ground for the final, final decisive game. Just three seconds into the game, Jonathan Farrell, the front player, was called off for "old paint" on his gun. What a disastrous disappointment for him. The team fought back to advance to 2:1 until Tim was bunkered and Max ran for the flag before being shot.
"The world stood still for us," said Jonathan whose disappointment showed up in his face.
The team, the boys have strong character. They are about four or five years younger than their opponents. There is much more to come.
A beautiful, thrilling event ended with a glorious second place. To keep the Ave Coalition team alive, much support, prayers and sponsors are needed for the near future.
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