Second annual Super Cup
What: Soccer match pitting Sequim vs. Port Angeles
When: 5 p.m. Saturday, July 16
Where: Wally Sigmar Field, Peninsula College (1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., Port Angeles)
Cost: $5 for adults and teens; children younger than 12 free
All good-natured kidding and rivalry trash-talking aside, the second annual Super Cup is bringing back serious talent for a serious cause.
The soccer communities in Sequim and Port Angeles revisit the cross-peninsula grudge match — dubbed a “derby” — on Saturday, July 16, at Peninsula College’s Wally Sigmar Field in Port Angeles.
Last year’s match was a success, says co-organizer Tim Tucker, Port Angeles’ adult recreational league director.
“It was everything we wanted it to be,” Tucker said. “The inscription on the (award) plate says ‘Building bridges through soccer.’ That’s what we’re trying to do. We found this one little thread that seems to connect both communities really well.”
Promoter Colin Sellwood notes, “The intent is to build a healthy rivalry and get community involved.”
This year’s event will help raise funds for Kyle Trussell, a Port Angeles graduate and former Rider soccer star who was critically hurt in 2015 not long after playing in the first Super Cup.
Last year, on the strength of a Pablo Salazar score late in the first half and some solid defense, Sequim held off Port Angeles 1-0.
“It was a lot of fun finally getting to see some soccer at the highest level for this area,” Quincy Burne, the Sequim coach in 2015, said. “Getting a win was just a bonus.”
Tucker said this year’s Port Angeles roster will include Kanyon Anderson (PC women’s head coach), Cale Rodriguez (PC men’s head coach) and Omar Anderson (former PC player and assistant, now in his first head coach job at Columbia Basin).
“Our soccer IQ going to be pretty high (so) we’re hoping to beat skill with knowledge,” Tucker said.
Byrne said while this year’s Sequim squad has lost a few players to injury — notably Ron Welches, with a leg issue — the local squad is set with another strong roster.
“Sequim has a good pool of players (to pick from),” he said.
The win gave Sequim more than bragging rights, as Port Angeles city councilor Cherie Kidd lost a wager with then Sequim Mayor Candace Pratt and wore a Sequim jersey while taking Pratt to lunch.
In 2016, a wager between Sequim mayor Dennis Smith and Port Angeles mayor Patrick Downie has another lunch in the opposing city’s colors back on the line.
In addition to connecting the two communities, the Super Cup hopefully will become a premier event that even former Olympic Peninsula residents come back for each summer, Tucker said.
Back to coach the Sequim squad this year is Burne, director of Sequim’s adult recreational league, and Juan Carlos. Anderson and Port Angeles High head coach Chris Saari lead the PA team.
“This (event) is special for me because it’s an accumulation of what’s been building in the soccer community,” Byrne said. “This is a pretty cool next step. Our youth teams are doing really well. It’s the next step in development in the peninsula community.”
With such poor playing conditions at the Sequim High fields, event organizers elected to keep the Super Cup in Port Angeles, Tucker said.
Trussell hurt
Under head coach Scott Soule, Port Angeles High School the won back-to-back Olympic League titles with a 30-0-2 league record in 1999 and 2000.
Helping anchor the midfield was Kyle Trussell, noted by teammates for his long distance throw-ins.
In those two seasons, the Riders outscored their opponents 81-10 (68-5 in league) on their way to a school record 19 consecutive victories.
Tucker said Trussell remains a well-known player in the soccer community.
“He’s just one of those guys that everybody knows,” Tucker said.
About six weeks after playing center midfielder for the Port Angeles team at last year’s Super Cup, Trussell was run over by a bulldozer at the Port Angeles Regional Transfer Station and was flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle for severe injuries.
A contractor working on the landfill bluff stabilization project, Trussell sustained substantial crushing injuries to his pelvis and legs.
Tucker said many Super Cup players from both communities contributed funds after hearing of Trussell’s accident.
In the 2015 Super Cup, players honored Virgilio Pontes, a longtime pillar within the area’s soccer community who died in 2014, and the late Craig Owen, and funds raised went to United Way of Clallam County.
“We hope to have him there (at Saturday’s game),” Tucker said.
Sequim roster
Manuel Servin (captain)
Benito Morales Flores
Austin Wagner
Chencho Torres
Kyle Kautzman
Hector Baylon
Victor Salazar
Juan Carlos Salgado
Teo Johannes Nugent
Luke Shearer
Daniel A. Servin
Cameron Chase
Zane Carey
Omar Flores
Pablo Salazar
Juan Carlos
Alternates: Samuel Acevez, Edgar Acevez, Sergio Yanez (player/coach)
Team managers: Quincy Byrne, Juan Carlos (player/coach), Nathan Funston (player/coach), Colin Sellwood.
Port Angeles roster
Dustin Walsh
Dean Short
Anthony Brandon
Rob Walton
Chris Saari
Jake Hughes
Killian Doherty
Cale Rodriguez
Omar Anderson
Daniel Horton
Brian Doolittle
Preston Tucker
Scott Methner
Ben Salgado
Angel Rivero
Nick Allen
Injured Reserve: Tim Schneider, Rick Smith
Head Coach: Kanyon Anderson
Player/coach: Chris Saari
Goalie coach: Andrew Cooper
