DEA Bedford Over 30

DEA and FC Barley will makeup their recently postponed game on Friday, 8:00PM. This is a Prime Time match, showing on Fox Sports World 'MatchNight'. The match will be played under the lights at Sportsman Field in Bedford.

In a battle of OTHSL D2North leaders, DEA Bedford and Pepperell played to a 2-2 draw. The ref, Dan Roberge, gave away the match in the final minutes. Pepperell took an early lead in the ninth minute when a lucky hop left them open off the left post. Their player got just enough to nudge home soft shot to make it 1-0. Garbage. DEA came back to tie in in the 21st minute with a garbage goal of their own. After Jon Cloutier kept in a clearance from an errant corner, Marco Koolman tracked down a pass and sent it toward the goal. As Pepperell attempted a clear, it instead was a well-placed shot to the lower corner. 1-1. More garbage. DEA had two more solid chances. The first was a Scott Sharby header that bounced off the crossbar. The second was a Jeff Bailey clean look at goal that he was hammered to the ground on. Unfortunately, Dan Roberge (the aforementioned referee) missed the play as his vision was screened because his head was in his ass. Ten minutes into the second half, DEA got their first lead of the game. Jon Cloutier stepped in front of an attempt at goal, and sent a long clearance down the left blank. Darren Hook (making his DEA debut) continued the theme and sent Bailey into the clear. Bailey dribbled past the keeper and made no mistake on the finish to make it 2-1. Both squads were shining when the opportunities presented themselves. Marco and Dale Dubois worked a short play that sent Dale in clean. However, the keeper (someone they were calling "Zeus"), came up big with a sliding save. On the other side of the goal, DEA keeper Chris Cloutier made two fines saves to perserve the lead. With under two minutes left, Dan Roberge finally made sure this game was going to end in a tie. After Cloutier's attempted clearance bounced of Chris Florek, a collision between Pepperell striker Reyad Mahmoud and Cloutier left both tangled up. As they each pushed to clear themselves from the entanglement (a play that happens, oh, 50-60 times a game), Mahmound fell to the pitch writhing in mythical pain. Roberge, his head now extracated from his ass, he heard some complaining from the Pepperell squad, blew his little whistle and pointed to the spot. The call made no sense. Florek already had the ball away from the goal. Neither player in the scrum was in the play, and neither was more aggressive than the other. However, if you don't know how to play the game you have to live vicariously through referring, this is what happens. It was an awful call that left Cloutier still fuming as the article is being written.... Pepperell unwrapped the gift, finished off the PK, and sent a nicely-worded 'thank-you note' to Roberge for his thoughtfulness. Make no mistake, Pepperell is a much improved team from last year's squad. DEA deserved a better result, but Pepperell does have a squad that can support it's position in the upper echelon of the standings. Look for DEA to get back on track next week when they host Barley down at Sportsman's again. I sure as hell hope Roberge isn't reffing this one......

CEO of the DEA Conglomorate, Dale Dubois, proved yet again that he's not just some faceless name writing checks, he's a damn good player to boot. Dale headed home the tying goal against Windham this morning with only seconds left in the match. DEA started on the cold, dark, wet side of the field in the first half. Windham had the sun in their eyes. The first half was pretty evenly played, with both sides getting a few quality chances. DEA keeper Chris Cloutier had to make a couple of good saves, one a low drive by Ellie Montiero that took a deflection and almost skidded by on the wet grass. The second a hard high shot that was palmed aside. DEA took a lead when Mark Wilensky tried to settle a cross in front of the goal. By the time Wilensky had corralled it, he was on the other side of the field and out of scoring position. No matter, as he lofted a cross back to Sonny Gagnon who deposited it home for his first of the year. DEA would go into the halftime break up a goal, but not without the efforts of Scott Sharby playing left back. Sharby played BigKirk, Windham's behemoth striker, to a standstill with some very tough play. Early in the second half, however, BigKirk finally broke through. After Ellie crossed, Kirk (already standing about 6'6"), got about two feet off the ground to meet a header. He cast an imposing shadow over two defenders and keeper and slammed home the tying goal. Sometimes, you just have to say "nice play" and move on. Windham would take the lead with 20 minutes left with Kirk once again creating havoc. He turned inside the area, and as the ball bounced up it took an unlucky hop and hit Chris Florek's hand. Not a call the ref wanted to make, but he had to and Ellie calmly put home the go ahead goal. It was a tough break, as Flo was playing outstanding in the back and deserved better. Dubois, however, rescued DEA and the important "point on the road" when he nodded home the tying tally off a corner kick. With all DEA personnel inside the box, Elvis Zukovic's corner kick to the back post found Dale's head. He made no mistake and DEA had levelled just before the final whistle. A solid match by two quality squads. DEA looks to get back on the winning track when they play home next Sunday against Pepperell. Currently neck-and-neck for first place, this looks to be a doozy.

Jeff Bailey scored the only goal of the match and Lucas Hill earned his second shutout in a row as Bedford outlasted Billerica 1-0 this morning. It was a tough fought battle on a horrible field, but Bedford would come out on top. Lucas Hill would make his trek up from Connecticut for his second match between the pipes. He would be asked to come up big on two saves that would preserve the shutout win for DEA. The First half was back and forth as neither team could keep possession on this tiny, lumpy, half grass, half gravel field. Willie Davis and Chris Laberge would get a few looks at the net but nothing solid. The second half was really chippy as both sides tried hard to score that important first tally. The referee was starting to loose control of the match as players traded wacks. Jeff Bailey went in on the keeper and got a boot to the neck without a call. Later Chris Laberge and the keeper collided without a call. Willie was taken down in the area, which was sure to be a PK.. but no call. Time was running out. DEA was awarded a free kick at midfield. Marco Koolman smartly took the quick restart to Jeff Bailey at the striker position. Jeff would beat the Billerica keeper clean this time with a few added comments to follow. Billerica would panic at this point and push all forward for the equalizer. However, Chris Florek would control the backfield, as he had done from the start, to shut the Rovers down. Lucas would make another great finger tip save to keep the shutout and the time would expire. DEA remains undefeated as they enter into the fourth week of play. This Sunday they take on their instate rivals, Windham at the Nashua Road Field in Windham. We need to show with our "A" team against these guys as they will certainly show with theirs. Game time is 8:30 AM in Windham. Great Win DEA !!!!!

After getting back from the doctor, the final tally for the stitches to Peter Clines face are as follows: Stitches to hold muscle together = 2 Stitches to hold cheek on face = 10 Stitches to hold eyebrow on face = 2 Total stitches accumulated = 14 Unfortunately, all results from the pool have been lost. The editor kept coming up with "six", but then realized that was the amount of beers he drank after the game. The rest seems kind of fuzzy. So, we'll call it a 25-way tie, and split the proceeds. Cliney, normally grounded for much of his career, was looking svelt for the game and when he went for that headball, he clearly got off the ground. Daylight between his feet and the turf was evident. I think this may have been his downfall, as Ole' #6&7 had his head where the keeper punched. If he was grounded, he wouldn't have won the headball, but also wouldn't have taken the hard knock, either. But, you do have to admire his toughness as Peter is determined not to take his jersey off until the stiches are out.