Alive and kicking

On a brilliant Sunday morning in late September at Lexington's state-of-the-art athletic fields, the early morning hour (8 a.m.) is enough to have several members of both Braintree Celtic and host Lexington S.C. squads grumbling.

"It pretty much divides into two camps," said John Clough, 39, coach of the Lexington S.C. entry in Division I South of the New England Over The Hill Soccer League. "You have the guys with kids; they're up anyway and they'd just as soon play early and get it done. Then you have the single guys - they're not as happy."

But when you are a league with 204 teams and 4,896 registered players that plays in both the spring and the fall - believed to be the largest amateur sports league in the country - teams have to take the fields when they are available. And that means players getting up near dawn when many others their age are just turning over after a night out on the town.

The New England Over The Hill Soccer League is a four-star tribute to Baby Boomers' desire to extend their athletic careers almost indefinitely. There are four age brackets: 30-and-over, 40-and-over, 50-and-over, and 58-and-over - the latter added in 2004 - and several levels of play in each age group. Playoffs determine division champs. The regular season winners in each division are promoted and the losers relegated to a lower division. The growth of the league shows no signs of abating: 10 teams were added just this year.

Lexington has its hands full this day with a Braintree squad that features star striker Mark Manganello, who the year before, playing for a Braintree team that suited up just nine players to Lexington's 11, scored three goals in a 3-3 tie.

Lexington defender Cliff Browning marks Manganello closely, and goalie Jeff Mackay stones him on a penalty kick, then denies him on a rebound. But Manganello, a graduate of Duxbury High's storied program who went on to star at Clark University, earning All-New England honors in 1994, seems to weave endless magic with the ball.

About five minutes into the second half, Manganello loses two Lexington defenders with some fancy footwork down low and then finishes off the play with a goal for a 1-0 lead. About midway through the second half, he dekes left, then right to lose a defender, and then buries another shot to make it 2-0.

The logistics of running such a huge league are daunting. A recent note on the over-the-hill league website said that every game in the past week - except for three - had an assigned referee, apparently an upgrade from the week before.

In many communities, a certain percentage of a team's roster must be residents of that town to receive scheduling priority for fields. In Lexington the number is 70 percent. Many teams play wherever and whenever they can.

"There's enough work here for a full-time person," said league president Julian Dunlop, 59, who lives in Kensington, N.H., and plays for the Seacoast team in Division 1 North of the Senior League.

Many volunteers hold down costs. Teams pay only $400 a season to register for a 10-game season and two playoff games.

Dunlop, a native of Scotland who played soccer in school in Britain, notes the irony of the New England Over The Hill Soccer League existing in this country, instead of the soccer hotbed that is his homeland.

"If I were still there, there would be nothing for me," he said. "There are no organized amateur leagues past the age of 30."

Age is hardly a barrier to success in any division of the over-the-hill league. Take the Andover Gold team that just happens to be one of the oldest teams in the Senior (50 and over) League, led by German-born forwards Cord Ohlenbusch, 71, and Helmut Floesser, 63, and 67-year-old London native Ted Dipple, who runs a soccer school.

Ohlenbusch, who has been with the league since its inception in 1981, took some ribbing after whiffing on a good scoring chance in a recent game against Lynnfield before assisting on the third Andover goal.

"I'm trying not to get fat," said Ohlenbusch, who said he is also skilled at "not getting hurt."

Remarkably, the highlight of his weekend had come came the day before, when he and other members of the MIT alumni soccer team held the current varsity squad to a 2-2 tie.

In 2004, the league expanded to include a 58-and-over league for the first time and now the league is considering a 70-and-older division, according to John Nourse, a league director and coach of the Andover Gold.

Which was very good news for Marton Toth, 71, of Tewksbury, who left his native Hungary after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He played for club teams in Hungary - the winner receives a keg of beer - and then for a team in the US Army.

He first joined the league in 1979 when it was just getting organized - "we didn't even keep score back then" - and has been playing ever since.

Toth said he plays with his brain more than his body these days, and one knee bothers him, but "I feel better if I play than if I don't play."

Despite the best efforts of Clough, who played for Lexington High and Brown University, and Lexington S.C. stalwarts such as Eric Anderson and Derek Swaim, the club finds itself with an 0-4-3 record in the very competitive Division I South through Oct. 14. The record includes a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of the powerful undefeated Bulldogs, also known as the retirement home for former members of the New England Revolution, the local entry in Major League Soccer.

According to Frank Dell'apa, the Globe's soccer writer who plays for Canton in the Over-50 Seniors League, Revolution coaches Paul Mariner and Steve Nicol and former Revs standout Mike Burns have played for the Bulldogs, based in Wayland.

Clough and his teammates are frustrated, but there is no quit. But Clough, especially, is at an athletic crossroads: he turns 40 in December and isn't quite sure if he's going to move up to the older, slower Masters League or try and keep up with his over-30 teammates in the spring.

"The recovery time gets a little longer each week," he said.

Rich Fahey can be reached at faheywrite@yahoo.com.