HAMILTON — After a scoreless opener Sunday in the Mercer County Soccer Hall of Fame/Glenn “Mooch” Myernick Senior Games at Al Cowell Field in Veterans Park, the boys wanted to show what they could do offensively. Despite having eight goalkeepers on its side, the White team built a two-goal lead at halftime, only to see the Red side come storming back in the second 40 minutes. It only took eight minutes for the Red team to tie the score, then 10 more before it officially took the lead (after having another goal waved off by an offside call). Before the Reds were finished, they flipped the game on its head to win, 5-2. “We got really motivated from the halftime speech we got from our coaches (namely Mercer County Soccer Hall of Fame president Harold “Bird” Fink),” West Windsor-Plainsboro High South’s Radesh Sankaran said. “We came out and played a lot better in the second half.” After Trenton’s Josh Hernandez had the go-ahead goal wiped out by a linesman’s flag with 30:45 to go, Sankaran came away with the game-winner as he cranked a left-footed shot into the near corner of the net off a pass from Hopewell Valley High’s Andrew Halko with 23:25 left in the second half. That goal put the Red team up, 3-2. Halko’s assist was his second of the half after setting up Princeton High’s Archie Smith 4:30 after intermission. Smith then came back to knot the score just over three minutes later when he bounced in a shot off a lead from the Lawrenceville School’s Brady Le. The turn of events spoiled an inspired first half by the White team in which two of their goalies, who were playing in the field, contributed to their offense. Despite being without its own inspirational Hall of Fame coach, Mickey Forker, who was dealing with a health issue and had to miss the event at the last minute, coach Tony Rosica’s White squad came out smoking. First, Princeton Day School’s ’keeper Oren Yakoby served a corner kick to Allentown’s Scott Jordan 27:30 into the game, and Jordan smoked a head ball past the Red side’s lone ’keeper Nicolas Holmelund from Princeton High. Ten minutes later, Robbinsville goalkeeper Brody Kaplan got into the scoring act when he kicked in a re-direction of a pass from Jordan to double the White side’s lead. “That was pretty fun,” said Kaplan, who, like all eight of the sectional champion Robbinsville and Princeton High boys playing in the game, would have rather been going for another state title at Franklin High Sunday. “Scotty sent a really nice ball to me and, from there, it was pretty easy (to score). In the second half, we were mostly just messing around and having fun.” The White Team poses for a photo after the Mooch Senior Game on Sunday afternoon at Al Cowell Field in Veterans Park. (Red Birch/ Trentonian Photo) There was the point of the day, so for both clubs, that was a success. Allentown High goalie J.P. Navroski held the opposition scoreless in the first half by making 10 saves. The second half was a different story after the White side made a change in net. The Red team did not care who was at the line. They were not done scoring. Eight minutes after Sankaran’s goal, his Pirate teammate Animesh Chauhan got into the act, sending a crossing shot past Ewing High goalie Elias Martinez for a 4-2 advantage. After Kaplan teamed with his Ravens teammate Ethan Pagani for a flying kick just over the crossbar, which would have tightened the score with 3:35 to play, the Hun School’s Diego Pena and Notre Dame High’s Luigi Barricelli teamed up to deny Princeton’s Azariah Breitman at the other end 20 seconds later. However, Breitman kept attacking until setting up the final tally with 1:30 left, dropping a slick pass to Hopewell Valley’s Michael Muscente for the final dagger. White           2   0    —    2 Red              0   5    —    5 Goals: Jordan, Kaplan (W), ASmith 2, Sankaran, AChauhan, Muscente (R); Assists: Yakoby, Jordan (W), Halko 2, Le, Muscente, Breitman (R). Shots: 12 (W), 20 (R); Saves: Holmelund 9 (W), Navroski 10, EMartinez 3, Pena 2 (R).