Wakasa an unlikely hero in the Blue-Green rivalry

This might have been his last Blue-Green game at home. Instead, Cal Poly junior defender Kody Wakasa was injured and watched last season from the sidelines as the Mustangs struggled at the bottom of the Big West’s Northern division standings.

On Saturday night, in front of a fevered 11,075 fans at Alex G. Spanos Stadium, Wakasa headed a 104th minute corner kick into the back of the net to send Cal Poly to a 3-2 win. As soon as the goal hit the back of the net, thousands of fans stormed the field. Among them was Wakasa’s little brother, who has been executing some friendly trolling of him and teammates on twitter during Cal Poly Internet broadcasts.

@TheDaveGrant Kody needs to score to prove his worth he's never scored. It's Kelly Wakasa from bayarea. Chase minter=Neil Patrick Harris?

— Kelly Wakasa (@KellyWakasa) October 9, 2015

The Wakasas’ smiles told it all after Kody’s first goal as a Mustang. By Owen Main

Forget for a second that he also called out Chase Minter as being a ringer for NPH. He said, a little more than a week before he scored the Blue-Green game-winner, that that Kody needs to score a goal to prove his worth.

Kody did a pretty good job proving his worth, playing a physical game agains the Big West’s most physical striker, Nick DePuy. DePuy did have a number of good looks at goal, but couldn’t convert. Wakasa toed the line with his physicality all night, earning a yellow card for his rough play in the first minute of extra time.

Here it is again — Wakasa’s game-winner (about :50 in), if you haven’t already seen it.

Cal Poly will face Sacramento State at home on Wednesday night at 7:00 pm before renewing the Blue/Green Rivalry at Harder Stadium in Santa Barbara on Saturday night.