Kid's Tournament: Day One

The two-day kid's tournament kicked off on Thursday and it was one for the record books.

The morning got starated with a parade of all the players and coaches up the winding dirt road to the village of Pachaj where the tournament is being held this year (although Chuisuc is hosting). After a handful of welcoming speeches and the pomp and circumstance of the Guatemalan national anthem, the games were ready to begin.

First up were the reigning girls' champions of Pachaj vs. last year's third place team Xejuyup. It quickly became apparent that Pachaj would once again be playing for the championship on Friday and Xejuyup in the third place game. In the end, it was Pachaj 21 and Xejuyup 5.

Next up were the boys of Chuisuc and Chirijquaic. It was a barn-burner of a game with the score deadlocked at zero at the half! Chiri was the first to break the points-scoring ice and never looked back, finally winning 5 to 1. At one point in the game referee Bryan could be heard comparing it to a soccer game...Stat Girl does not like this status.

The Christmas-themed match-ups continued in the third game with the Chuisuc girls (green) taking on the Chirijquiac girls (red). At first it looked as if the girls game between these two aldeas was going to suffere the same soccer fate as the boys game, but the red menance of old reared its head in the 2nd half and the Chiri girls won 19 to 2.

The final game of the day between Pachaj and Xejuyup boys will do down in the Hoops Sagrado record books. It was a scrappy match-up from teh get go and at the end of regulation the score was tied at 8. The first (yes, Stat Girl said first) overtime saw tempers beginning to flare both on the court and sidelines. Although referee Bryan usually lets a lot slide, when players start playing dirty and coaches start copmlaining about the reffing, he starts calling the game tighter and tighter depending on the level of complaints. Over #1 ended with the score dead-locked at 10. The second overtime was equally as intense, it not more so than the first, only wiht a different result. With less than 2 minutes to go, Xejyuup increased the score to 12-10 and although there were some scary moments in the final 90 seconds, they held on to make it the championship game against Chirijquiac.

On Friday, for the Championship:
Pachaj girls vs. Chirijquiac girls
Xejuyup boys vs. Chirijquiac boys

For Third Place:
Chuisuc girls vs. Xejuyup girls
Pachaj boys vs. Chuisuc boys