JL Long Bucs take second place in El Barrio Cup

By Victor R. Aves

On a cool overcast morning, a small group of the JL Long sixth grade soccer team came together to play in the 2025 El Barrio Cup Futsal Tournament at the Mooreland YMCA outdoor courts, hosted by YMCA and AT&T. Futsal is “soccer” played with a much smaller ball on a smaller hard court with smaller goals and different rules than normal soccer with six players per team. Only one of the six Bucs players had ever played before. It is super-fast paced and all about ball control. 

The Bucs team was three players short, so all of the players participated in 100 percent of the games. The Bucs lost the first game by one goal and won the next two games to send them to the championship round!  The Bucs opponent was none other than the Black Panthers, who beat the Bucs in the first game. 

The Bucs appeared tired but worked hard. In the end, they were defeated once again but took second place in the tournament. After the tournament some prizes were handed out and three of six players walked away with new laptops from Santa, courtesy of AT&T!