The Final Score: Runaway 'Sol Train'

An athlete who knows himself is unstoppable. The soul is the zone that every athlete must strive to enter." – J.R. Moehringer For 27 basketball minutes, the Ynares Sports Center became the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, the PBA morphed into the NFL, Coca-Cola’s defensive line forgot to tackle Solomon Mercado and Mercado the scoring guard turned into Mercado the running back gone amok. Every time Mercado penetrated the Tigers' defense, it was easy to imagine Mercado gallop in shoulder pads, cleats and a shiny Ridell helmet. Mercado moves like Hall-of-Fame running back Barry Sanders. Just like Sanders, Mercado doesn’t electrify with speed. He mesmerizes with guile. It seems like a frantic dance inside a maze. In truth, he exhibits control by feigning the absence of it. You think he’s going left, but he’s really going right. You think he’s moving forward but he’s really pulling backwards. You think he’s panicking, but he’s not. You think you have him trapped, but you don’t. So for 27 basketball minutes in a knockout game, Mercado danced around Coca-Cola defenders like they were practice cones. Maybe he got his style by watching his favorite NFL team, the Washington Redskins. Maybe he learned to shuffle out of a jam by studying the moves of his favorite running back, Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings. Or maybe, he just wanted to win. "We had no special instructions for Sol before the game," said Rain or Shine assistant coach Richard Del Rosario. "Grabe lang desire niya to win (He had the will to win)." Stymied by foul trouble through the first three quarters, driven by the need to play in the quarterfinals and emboldened by the gaps in Coca-Cola’s defense, Mercado broke out of the line of scrimmage like Jerome Bettis on a 4th and one play. Mercado didn’t just move past tacklers. He threw them aside. In one play, 6-foot-9 250-pound Asi Taulava tried to bamboozle Mercado during a lay-up attempt. Mercado still scored as if he was up against a Brazilian swimsuit supermodel. Coca-Cola, having won six of their last seven games, was the hottest team in the league heading into the knockout game against Rain or Shine. The Tigers, however, faced the hottest player in the PBA. Mercado scored 35 points with seven three-pointers against Alaska last Jan. 22 then followed it up with a team-best 18 points and seven rebounds in their knockout win over Sta. Lucia. I knew Mercado would need a big game if Rain or Shine aimed for the upset. I didn’t know he could pull it off in less than half an hour. Mercado punished Coca-Cola’s linebackers with 28 points in 27 minutes. That’s the equivalent of four touchdown drives in the NFL. It’s also the equivalent of one knockout blow in the PBA playoffs. Purefoods’ Sampayan Brigade of Rafi Reavis and Rico Maierhofer prepare to ambush Mercado in the next round. The soul of Sol, however, knows only one way to face them. Go head first. Pound them at full-speed. – GMANews.TV