DRAPER — The Las Vegas Strikers defense couldn't stop Christian Bowers, so Mother Nature decided to intervene.
Bowers scored a pair of goals Friday as the Utah Salt Ratz thumped the Strikers 5-1 in a game that was halted at halftime because of a power outage.
In reality, the whole game was interwoven with delays and mishaps.
It all began this afternoon when a plane carrying some of Las Vegas' players experienced problems before takeoff. That group of players was originally supposed to arrive in Salt Lake City at 4:30 p.m. to meet their teammates who drove, but they didn't arrive until over 45 minutes after the scheduled 7:30 p.m. kickoff.
To avoid a forfeit, the Salt Ratz loaned the Strikers reserve players Josh Kimball, Chad Evans, John Pacheco and Rob Karas.
"Fortunately we were able to help them field a team of 11," said Salt Ratz coach Dominic Militello.
Once the game began, it took Bowers all of seven minutes to put the Ratz in front. In fact, nine minutes later he scored his second goal.
That's when chaos broke loose. It began as a light drizzle, but 10 minutes later it had escalated into ridiculous amounts of rain, gusting wind and lightning. Before the referee could suspend play though, Kenny Hickman and Jesse Day scored goals as the Ratz went ahead 4-0 at the 25th minute.
During the 20-minute rain delay, in which flashes of lightning could be seen all around, the electricity at Juan Diego High School went out.
Fortunately for the Ratz, the lightning and rain subsided just enough so they could play the rest of the first half in the minimal daylight that remained to make it an official victory.
The teams return to action Saturday night at 7:30 in the regular-season finale. Utah will then have a week to prepare for its Aug. 2 MPSL semifinal game, against most likely Tucson.