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v. Foley on 4/8/5

Bucs Stop Foley 11-2 and 7-0

Both the Fairhope Buccaneers Girls and Boys Varsity had impressive offensive performances Friday night against county rival Foley High School at W.C. Majors Field in Fairhope. The #9 ranked Lady Bucs dominated the game from start to finish in their 11-2 win and improved their record to 11-5 overall and 6-0 in section. (Game summary needed) Lady Bucs photos here.

In their 7-0 shutout of the Foley Lions, the boys team, led by Juniors Jordan Sinclair (three goals) and Ryan Strachan (two goals) and Sophomore Ricky Harris (two goals), proved their previous 1-0 win over Foley a bit of an understatement of their raw goal scoring power. The Pirate offensive banged away at Foley's defense all night overwhelming the gutsy Lion squad. Solid midfield play by Senior Dan Keyser, Junior Colin McBrearty and Sophomore Drew Dolan took pressure off the Buc defense, to the point of allowing Senior Sweeper Jason Canarela to join the attack with a run up the sideline in the second half.

Hand-Ball Controversy

An unusual penalty was called in the first half of the Foley game when Sinclair's first goal was called back on a whistled hand-ball by a Foley defender five yards in front of the goal. The hard-struck ball went into the goal and, as the crowd cheered, a whistle could be heard calling the foul. The point was removed from the scoreboard and Fairhope was awarded a penalty kick. Sinclair took the PK and converted for the score. Typically when a defensive player attempts to block a shot on goal using his hand, it results in a red card for the defender and he is sent off. And typically, if the played ball goes in the goal, the goal is awarded and no penalty kick is awarded because the offensive team wouldn't gain an advantage by the call. The referee's explanation of his call was that he was able to recognize the hand-ball, whistle the hand-ball before the ball entered the goal, and thus it was appropriate to negate the goal and award the PK, even though an advantage (the goal) was apparent. No explanation was made for the uncalled red card. Video of this event is being processed and will be posted here when available.