Keeper Dave Dutcher is so quick he can hit the light switch and jump into bed before it gets dark.
Dutcher flashed his lightning reflexes Monday night as the Okanagan Spring Brewery Camels shut out Brown Benefits 1-0 at Marshall Field #3.
Dutcher stuffed Lionel Hoffman on a pair of breakaways and dove to his left to deny Don Brown on a penalty kick to earn the Rolling Stone Magazine Man of the Match in the Capri Insurance Men’s 45+ Soccer League showdown.
Brown earned the PK after being pulled down by defender Stu Whitling, who was given a red card for denying a scoring chance.
“Dutch and central defender Eric Ladner were both exceptional for us,” said Camel veteran Ron Krause, who was robbed by Steve Heiss on a header seconds into the second half.
Down to nine men due to another injury, the Browns managed to generate some good chances on the counterattack but Dutcher was unbeatable.
The Humpbacks won the A side match in the 61st minute when John Davies converted on a scramble after Heiss had stopped a John Orton blast from 15 yards.
In other A side play, RPM Auto brushed back Silver Stars 3-1 at Beasley Park.
The Stars controlled much of the play early in the first half with some excellent one-touch passing from centre midfielders Dave Howes and Nigel Clack, but couldn’t convert.
RPM went up 1-0 on a long strike off a Stars’ turnover that just beat Al Bensmiller, who had another strong game filling in for injured keeper Ted Lurkins.
The Stars tied it on a goal by Gary Baker, but a quick counter from RPM made it 2-1 at the break.
The Stars pressed for most of the final 45, but gave up the third goal late when a hard hit by Cam Percy, doing his best Scott Stevens impersonation, resulted in an RPM penalty kick.
Andrew Whiston was the Lawrence of Arabia Man of the Match for the Stars, running hard for 90 minutes in his final game of a three-match tour before returning to the Middle East to continue sharing his wit and wisdom with the youth of Abu Dhabi.
Brandt’s Creek shut out North Country 2-0 at Mission Sports Fields.
The first half was an evenly played encounter, with the Pubbers coming the closest to scoring with Steve Bergg hitting the bar from 30 yards.
In the second half, and with Brandt’s owning the majority of possession, they took the lead when a North Country defender turned the ball into his own net.
John Fletcher added an insurance marker at 70 minutes, heading it home from six yards. Dave Rundle earned the shutout. The Pubbers’ back line was stellar in limiting North Country to very few scoring opportunities.
In B side action, Chris Purnell buried two penalty kicks as Cantinas clipped Bosman Accounting 2-1 at Marshall #2.
Purnell was taken down by Mark Grace in the 12th minute and went high on keeper Yogi Kongsdorf.
Just a few minutes later, Kilmer Hagen fed Kevin Mitchell up the middle and Mitchell deked one defender and dished off to Laurent Dansereau, who beat Cantina keeper Jay Christensen low, right side from 10 yards.
Dansereau and Mark Sladen both broke through the middle for two breakaways apiece, getting stymied by the big Christensen, a retired 10-year CFL receiver who won a Grey Cup with the Edmonton Eskimos.
Vernonite Steve Hesketh was a rock star at central fullback for Cantinas, while Gerson Betman took the Dutch’s Campground Man of the Match at centre midfield for Bosman. Erick Burnet earned honourable mention.
