Lou City 1 Cup-Lex SC 0 Cups
Ray Serrano (left) and Brian Ownby (right) lift the Commonwealth Cup to a group of fans who weren’t washed away by the evening’s showers.
Lexington welcomed Lou City (and a nice chunk of the fan base) with two pop-up showers and the heat of Satan’s arm pit. Personally, I was soaking wet most of the night, and I don’t know what was from rain vs. sweat. It’s a lovely feeling, and if you’ve never experienced if, I’d highly recommend it right after you have your wisdom teeth removed by Edward Scissorhands.
The payoff for enduring the humidity was a beautiful rainbow (what we all came for) and an amazing display of non-scoring football for 88 minutes followed by three goals in 10 minutes. Lou City’s 2-1 win (plus their 2-0 win over Lexington SC in May) earned them the right to take home the Bank Trophy. (Officially, it’s the Commonwealth Cup, presented by Republic Bank, to be displayed in the Fifth Third Club in Lynn Family stadium.) I assume it’s filled with gold bars or bitcoin or a mortgage rate under 3%.
Enjoy some moments from the “Kentucky Showdown” match below.
Long Hair vs. Rain: Before & After Warm Up featuring Kyle Adams and Aiden McFadden
Davila the Elder, Dia, and Adams warm up with the YMCA dance. They’re definitely not Savannah-Banana level yet.
A row of LSC fans arrive early to practice mooning during warm-ups. (They never said that fans shouldn’t be warming up too!)
Warm-up Gallery (Pre-Rain)
Probably the most important role of the Bench players - wringing out pinnies before the match. And drying the seats with their shorts. Davila the Younger looks like his mom just scolded him for folding laundry wrong.
Ownby’s mom just told him he’s doing an amazing job with the laundry.
There was some question of whether or not Lancaster would be eligible to play against his current club (since he’s just on loan to Lou City) but since he didn’t have much of a height advantage over his match-up, he was allowed to play.
Lancaster humbly accepted four standing ovations: from the Lou City fans, the Lexington fans, the UK fans, and then the Referees. Cam finally insisted that they start the match.
Josh Jones sneaks the ball down the pitch like a fox entering a hen house.
A Lexington player reminds Kyle Adams to keep the noise down while he’s playing. I heard since moving to Kentucky, the New Zealander’s favorite Karaoke song is “Party in the USA.”
Their on-field YMCA is looking better with Taylor Davila as the C.
If you have never googled “4 players offside at once,” I’ll save you some trouble and leave this picture here. (Lou City always manages to line up properly before the kick comes in, but it never fails to make me nervous.)
Ray Serrano brings the ball down the pitch like a guy who wants some full body photos taken. He must have chatted with Jake Morris. I got you, Ray.
Ordóñez running in air, or walking on air, whatever it takes to bring down the ball. Maybe just a good, hard stare.
The latest in my series called “Josh Jones and the ball,” which is very popular with the servers at The Blind Squirrel and women everywhere with eyes.
The latest in my series called “Kyle Adams,” which is popular with NWSL stars named Savannah DeMelo and Me’s everywhere.
LSC player and Amadou Dia studying the ball like it’s got Epstein’s client list on it.
Cause this is Thriller…actually it’s just soccer, you can calm down, dude.
Lexington player looking like he spotted a cockroach crawl out of his Hot Brown.
Las and his Superman curl making the save.
McFadden thought he saw a hole in the back right corner of the net and tried to score from here. So close.
Gleadle leading the pack of players running for the roses slash whatever they run for at Keeneland. Maybe carnations?
Las made this save with his eyes closed, same technique my youngest uses for parallel parking.
Manny Perez going for the goal, only being held back by a tiny thread of uncertainty and this guy with size 7 cleats pulling on his jersey.
Next to come down the pitch, Jansen “The Mustache” Wilson, as he’s been called in certain parts of Kentucky when I’m there.
Minute 69, and LSC is gassed.
A ball gets past Las and McFadden blames the universe, as he should, because it’s clearly the only explanation for the goal in the 87th minute.
McFadden draws up a quick play and signals to Davila the Younger. Lambert, Morris, and LSC look on in fear.
The Keeper is on a break, another Defender is practicing his splits so he can be like Las, so Morris takes the opportunity to tap in the ugliest, most beautiful goal that Lou City fans have seen in days.
Jake Morris’s Super-Fast-Because-We-Need-to-Score-Again-Celebration Gallery featuring full body shots
Lou City players ask the Ref who he thinks should score the game winning goal. He tells them to just think about it for a second.
Lambert helps set up a play with the methodical coolness of Jack Harlow flying first class.
There goes Morris again, wonder what he’s up to? Keep an eye on that ball.
Remember Morris’s ball from 3 seconds ago? Evan Davila confirmed that it’s now in the back of the net. Boom.
The Jake-Morris-Can-Finally-Celebrate Gallery featuring Forlorn LSC Players
More-Fabulous-Plays-from-the-Boys-in-Purple Gallery
Commonwealth-Cup-Lifted-99-Times Gallery
Fan & Family Appreciation Gallery
Post-Match Media Gallery featuring a full body shot of Jake Morris, per his standing request
