SANTA BARBARA, CA. (July 26th, 2020) . The first weekend of the Farmers and Merchants
Bank Silver Cup hosted eight competitive matches between the eight 16 goal teams. All teams
still have a chance at making it to the final on August 9th and ultimately a chance at winning the
entire tournament.
The featured game from this last Sunday, July 26th, occurred on the Grandstand field at 4 PM
and was played between Klentner Ranch and Antelope. This match was bound to be interesting
due to the change in lineup that Antelope incurred. Unfortunately, eight goal player, Alfredo
Bigatti, suffered an injury the previous Friday. The combination of players to take his place was
Mariano “Peke” Gonzalez and Paco de Narvaez, both rated six goals to take the spot of Bigatti
and Santi Trotz, rated at four goals.
The entire game depicted classic polo, with many goals scored in the first half. Patron, Justin
Klentner, put the first goal on the board for Klentner Ranch. But, Antelope fired back with a field
goal from de Narvaez and Coppola each, along with two penalty conversions from Gonzalez.
Bray also converted a penalty for Klentner Ranch. The tides turned in the second chukker with
four impressive field goals from Klentner Ranch, two of which came again from Justin Klentner.
Both teams showed accuracy in their shots with only one knock-in the entire second chukker.
The last chukker in the first half evened out the score to 8-9, with Antelope just hanging on to the
lead.
After a five minute half time to regroup, it appeared both teams focused on their defense with
each team only scoring one goal the whole fourth chukker. In the fifth chukker, Klentner Ranch
pulled ahead with their first lead the entire game. They did this with another goal from Klentner
and a soaring penalty three from Jesse Bray. Antelope was not able to come back with any goals
in retaliation. However, it came down to the wire in the sixth chukker when Antelope tied the
game up 11 all with only a few minutes to go. It appeared the match would go into overtime
when a bad bounce off a backshot let Paco de Narvaez be alone with the ball in the last 30
seconds of play. He took this opportunity to shoot to goal from outside the 60 yard line and the
ball rolled through the posts as the final horn went off. This exciting match went to Antelope
12-11.
The Farmers and Merchants Bank Silver Cup is likely to see more thrilling matches like this one.
Stay tuned for more results as the rest of the tournament plays out and watch the games live on
globalpolo.com.
Photo by Polographics