PSYOPs wins soccer title

by Reginald Rogers
Paraglide

	photos by Reginald Rogers/Paraglide Black Falcons’ Matthew Orozco, left, battles an opponent for control of the ball during the intramural soccer championship game Oct. 13, at Towle Stadium. The 9th Psychological Operations Battalion defeated the 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment “Black Falcons” 5-2 to take the title.

The 9th Psychological Operations Battalion outran and outkicked every other team on Fort Bragg, including the second-place Black Falcons, to win the 2009 Intramural Soccer championship Nov. 13, at Towle Stadium.

The POB team jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, defeating the Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment 5-2 to take the title.
According to Kurt Phoenix, the tournament’s coordinator, the 9th POB was the last team to enter the league, signing up just before the deadline. Ironically, the team, which donned black and white striped shirts, similar to what referees wear, ended up being the last men standing, as it outlasted the competition.

“We were undefeated the whole time,” explained Carlos Fastin, one of the team’s top players. “The defensive line did our job. Other teams only scored on us maybe two or three times throughout the season.”

Fastin said it’s been a long season and everyone played well, so overall, the team was pleased with its performance.

“Everybody did good and everyone chipped in and now we’re victorious,” said Fastin, a sergeant, who has won three soccer championships with different units.

“I think we did great, ever since we came together,” said Marco Pastrana, Fastin’s teammate. “We just got in there and let it be and it turned out to be good.”

Pastrana said they were familiar with the Black Falcons, having played against them earlier in the season. “They were good,” Pastrana said. “We’d already played them before and we already knew how they played, so we knew it was a matter of scoring first.”

The 9th POB played out of the winner’s bracket in the double-elimination tournament, which meant the Black Falcons would have to defeat the team twice to claim the championship.

“It feels great to be the champions this year because last year, we finished in second place,” explained Julio Lofkin. “I think we redeemed ourselves this year.”

Coming out of the loser’s bracket, the Black Falcons had a harder road to travel. The team entered the tournament in fifth place, but battled hard to earn a title shot, where it faced a talented 9th POB team.

“That was something that we’re proud of, despite finishing in second place,” explained Black Falcons’ Robert Graves, following the championship game. “We came in knowing that we would have some rough spots due to all the training throughout the year, but we knew we could do very well.”

Graves said his team entered the tournament with the intent of making a good showing and hopes of winning the championship.

“We gave it our all and hung with them until the very end then they started to pull away,” added Graves, a first lieutenant in the unit. “Our guys played great. I’m definitely proud of them and we gave a good showing. I think, better than we expected initially. We have a good group of guys who came out and worked their (butts) off and we got to game day, came out here and did the best we could.”