INDIO—Four missed shots on goal hurt Griffin Ranch Sunday in the 12-goal league match at Eldorado Polo Club, but the second half performance by Joseph Stuart and Fergus Gould for Ford Trucks stalled any chance to gain the upper hand. Griffin Ranch rolled to a 14-13 loss on the clubhouse field despite the handiwork of high scorers Graham Bray and Diego Cossio.

Griffin Ranch built a slow lead to an 8-6 advantage at the half on four penalty conversions and a goal awarded on handicap. Ashton Wolf, Cossio and Bray pulled out the team’s best chukker in the third, picking up three goals and holding Ford Trucks scoreless.

Wolf ran out front of Bray and picked up a pass for a quick tap-in 40 seconds into the match to tie at six all. Cossio converted a penalty two with 5:36 remaining. Then Bray broke from the lineup, tapped the ball forward, prepared and connected for a blistering offside bullet that sped 130 yards through the posts.

Ford Trucks recharged at the half, following a money run on the field for $500 in casino chips courtesy of the Red, White & Blue Polo and Balloon Festival. Gould’s back-to-back goals narrowed the lead. He charged unchallenged to goal and scored out of the lineup at the top of the fourth. He positioned for the pass from Zavaleta on a turnover and sped to goal trailed by Cossio and pitched in a neckshot with 4:28 remaining.   

Ford Trucks closed the book on the match in the fifth on back-to-back goals from Stuart and a pivotal early play by Zavaleta. He picked off a backshot fired by Griffin Ranch’s Bray, darted around the pack, passed it to Gould then reconnected for the score avoiding Cossio’s hook. At a throw-in near Ford Trucks’ 60-yard-line, Stuart maneuvered around Wolf, brushed by Bray and scored on a short offside with 3:01 left on the clock. He next paired up with a fast-moving Gould, who picked up a ball left on the grass by Bray and sent a well-placed ball a waiting Stuart, 10 horse lengths from the nearest opponent. He easily scored on a controlled tap-in.

Griffin Ranch’s Bray and Cossio’s goals brought the score within one in the sixth, but were answered by Stuart’s tap-in with 3:40 remaining. Bray’s last ditch effort to even the score failed when his shot on goal went wide of the posts with .46 left to play. 

NOTE: Fergus Gould replaced an injured Jason Crowder (No. 4) on the Ford Trucks team.

FORD TRUCKS 14, GRIFFIN RANCH 13

Goals:

Ford Trucks: Brad Schlei, Joseph Stuart (6), Augustin Zavaleta (3), Fergus Gould (4).  One goal unaccounted for by umpire decision.

Griffin Ranch: Suzanne Figi, Ashton Wolf (1) Diego Cossio (6), Graham Bray (5), one on handicap.

Umpires: Mike Kerley, Domingo Questal. Third Man: Erik Wright.