PORT ANGELES — Civic pride, bragging rights and the opportunity for some good-natured gloating are up for grabs during the second annual Super Cup, a soccer “derby” between rival squads from Sequim and Port Angeles.
A “derby” (pronounced darby) is the English term for a clash between two opponents of close geographic proximity.
Each side fields the best roster of residents and recent residents they can put together.
The rivalry contest will kickoff at 5 p.m. Saturday at Wally Sigmar Field at Peninsula College, 1502 E. Lauridsen Blvd., in Port Angeles.
The suggested donation is $5 for ages 12 and older.
A post-match party will follow at Fanaticus Sports Grill, 1026 E. First St.
“If you love living in Port Angeles or Sequim, this is one of the events that celebrates the two communities and celebrates the rivalry that exists in a good-natured spirit,” Tim Tucker, a Super Cup “commissioner,” and the game’s announcer, said.
“It’s asking you to be a homer and to celebrate being a homer and to be able to wander over to the Sequim stands and flip a buddy some good-natured trash talk.”
Sequim claimed the inaugural Super Cup 1-0 last August on the Peninsula College turf, forcing Port Angeles city councilor Cherie Kidd to treat then-Sequim Mayor Candace Pratt to lunch while wearing a Sequim jersey.
A similar wager is set for this edition of the Super Cup.
Port Angeles Mayor Patrick Downie and Sequim Mayor Dennis Smith have thrown down the gauntlet: the losing mayor has to buy lunch at the restaurant chosen by the winner, all while wearing the colors of the winning team’s high school.
Sequim, the home team in the contest, is hoping for a big turnout of purple and gold-clad fans.
Victor Salazar, who scored the winning goal in the first-ever Super Cup game, returns for Sequim.
Sequim’s Pablo Salazar also is expected to draw some attention from the Port Angeles defense.
“Those guys are big, tall targets,” Tucker said.
“I think if the Port Angeles team can withstand their initial attack and get their own counterattack going they’ll be in business.”
Sequim also will have two recent high school graduates, goalkeeper Austin Wagner and midfielder Cameron Chase on the roster.
“We have a good squad,” Sequim coach and Super Cup Commissioner Quincy Byrne said.
“I think Sequim has a good pool of players, maybe a larger pool than Port Angeles.
“We have a good amount of Latino players that have played together since they were little.”
Byrne didn’t want to engage in any pre-game trash talk, but very nearly guaranteed a win.
“In my position I’ll leave that to the players, but I definitely think we are going to win,” Byrne said.
Port Angeles will have recent Roughrider graduates Preston Tucker and Scott Methner on the field.
“We intentionally hold out two spots on each team for recent high school graduates,” Tucker said.
A core of players with connections to Peninsula College highlight the Port Angeles team.
Men’s soccer head coach Cale Rodriguez will play for Port Angeles head coach Kanyon Anderson, also the head coach of the Pirates women’s soccer team.
Former Peninsula player and assistant coach Omar Anderson, the women’s head coach at Columbia Basin College, will return to play.
Dustin Walsh, a Port Angeles High School graduate and former Peninsula player, will represent his hometown.
And Pirates assistant coach Jake Hughes, himself a former Peninsula player, also will hit the field for Port Angeles.
Killian Doherty, another former Port Angeles High School player, is traveling up from Eugene, Oregon.
“One of the missions of the Super Cup is to create an event that people will mark on their calendars, get their kids to come back home from college or from the towns they live in to come back to play,” Tucker said.
Tucker said he feels the teams are relatively balanced, so he doesn’t have an inkling as to the final outcome.
But he did offer his favorite piece of trash talk he posted to the events’ Facebook page, a particularly timely message, considering the weekend’s events in the Sequim-Dungeness Valley.
“What’s defeat smell like?, Tucker asked.
“Lavender.”
Benefits Trussell
Proceeds from the game go toward medical expenses incurred by Port Angeles High School and Peninsula College soccer alum Kyle Trussell.
Trussell, who played for the Port Angeles Super Cup team in 2015, had his pelvis and legs crushed when he was run over by an 18-ton Caterpillar D6 bulldozer Sept. 28 as he worked on the landfill bluff stabilization project near the Port Angeles Regional Transfer Station.
Trussell has long been a staple of the Port Angeles and Sequim city soccer leagues.
“He’s such a fun guy, such a character,” Byrne said.
“There’s no better recipient this year.”
Tucker recounted the story of the Peninsula College men’s soccer team bringing along Trussell’s Jose’s Salsa city league jersey with them when they played in the NWAC Final Four last November.
“Everybody signed it, and when the team won the championship they posed with the jersey and presented it to Kyle,” Tucker said.
“It says a lot about him that those players, many pretty new to Port Angeles, understood just what he meant to the soccer community here.”
A detailed story on Trussell’s recovery from his injuries is available at tinyurl.com/PDN-TrussellStory.
Donations also can be made GoFundMe account also is available at www.gofundme.com/urjwfqx8 for Trussell.
Port Angeles event sponsors are Peninsula College, Next Door Gastropub, Fanaticus, Windemere Realty, Station 51 Taphouse and OST Sling.
Sequim sponsors are Jose’s Salsa, Meyer Electric and Sequim FC.
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Sports reporter Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
