In an emotionally-charged game, Flexjet defeated Audi 7-6 in overtime to win the seventh annual Pedro Morrison Memorial Sunday at Grand Champions Polo Club.
Juan Bollini took advantage of an Audi broken play to shake loose from defenders and scored the winning goal with 4:58 remaining.
Flexjet (Riley Ganzi, Juan Bollini, Juancito Bollini, JJ Celis) was making its’ fifth consecutive championship final appearance.
It was Flexjet’s second tournament victory of the fall season. Flexjet also won the season-opening Tackeria Invitational.
Flexjet led 2-0 in the opening chukker before Audi (Grant Ganzi, Marc Ganzi, Tony Calle, Nic Roldan) took control and led after the second (3-2), third (5-4) and fourth chukkers (6-4).
Flexjet turned the game around shutting out Audi in the final two chukkers. While Audi squandered away scoring opportunities, Flexjet made the most of its chances.
Juancito Bollini converted a penalty-four in the fifth chukker to take the lead, 6-5. With 4:53left in the sixth chukker, Celis picked up a loose ball and weaved his way past Roldan to tie the game at 6-6.
Neither team was able to score again in the penalty-marred sixth chukker sending it into overtime.
Juan Bollini came up with two clutch defensive plays at the start of overtime. For the opening bowl-in Audi was positioned only 20 yards away from the goal. Bollini won the bowl-in and got the ball out of scoring position. After an Audi right-of-way penalty, Bollini got the ball again and hit long downfield to his son. Two minutes later, he finished with the game-winning heroics.
Juan Bollini was named Most Valuable Player. Luna, a 9-year-old dark bay mare played by Calle and owned by Santa Rita Polo Farm, was selected Best Playing Pony.
“Everybody on our team was playing their natural position,” Bollini said. “We didn’t want Nic with the ball. You could see the kids (Riley, Juancito, Granti, Tony) getting emotional and fighting for the ball. I loved the energy. Everyone played with heart.”
Juancito Bollini was leading scorer for Flexjet with five goals, including four penalty shots. Roldan led Audi with three goals including a 120-yarder, 60-yarder and 30-yarder at a standstill. Grant Ganzi added two goals.
In the Aspen Valley Cup subsidiary game, Jason Crowder converted an open goal penalty three in the final minute of the game to give Riverview (Wes Finlayson, Virginia Ingram, Jason Crowder,
Jared Sheldon) a come-from-behind 13-12 win over Newport (Gene Goldstein, Nacho Lezica, Jesse Bray, Guille Aguero). It was Riverview’s fall season debut at Grand Champions.
Sheldon, a member of Team USPA who scored eight goals, was named Most Valuable Player. X-Box, a bay stallion played by Ingram and owned by Santa Rita Polo Farm, was named Best Playing Pony.