“Charles is King!”: Charlestown deliver double whammy in Exxon U14 Finals

Story and Photos by Jemima Holmes

Absolute pandemonium broke out at the Ministry of Education Ground, Carifesta Avenue, as Charlestown Secondary on Saturday last achieved what no other team imagined they could; a double Championship win in the ExxonMobil Under 14 Boys’ and Girls’ Schools’ football tournament.

The two Howes Street outfits had spirited displays during Saturday’s finals, much to the dismay of their opponents, who were oblivious to what lay ahead of them.
The boisterous cheers of ‘Charles is King’; fitting for the current monarchical climate and Charlestown’s triumph was bellowed by the team’s many supporters. The joyous celebrations were preceded, of course, by sweat and toil on the young teenagers’ parts.
Clad in their school’ familiar green, Charlestown’s girls’ took to the pitch first for the girls’ final against defending champions East Ruimveldt Secondary school.
Alost immediately, Charlestown’s determined aggression was obvious as they skillfully and sometimes forcefully, maintained possession. Polar opposites were East Ruimveldt’s girls, who seemingly approached the game like any other in the tournament and learnt a bitter lesson for leaving their hustle on the sidelines.
Everyone saw it coming, as Charlestown opted to fortify their front line and when it did, it was Hadassah Smith who capitalized on chaotic scenes in front of the goal, to slip in Charlestown’s first goal.
Not too long after, eventual tournament MVP Chelysi Lupe made it a 2-0 game for Charlestown. The defending champions, East Ruimveldt, were left wallowing at the half.
Indeed, East Ruimveldt’s girls returned from the break with fresh enthusiasm and a certain eagerness to equalize. In fact, the came close on multiple occasions, but misdirected kicks and squandered opportunities were as frequent.

A penalty opportunity finally came East Ruimveldt’ way and take by Captain Azaria Smith, East finally added something to their scoresheet. The goal seemed to inspire the talented Wilson, by her lone campaign for the equalizer was daunted by the sound of the final whistle. Charlestown had won 2-1.
If anyone believed the girls’ final was entertaining, then a more magnanimous adjective would be needed to describe the final affair between Charlestown’s and Ann’s Grove’s boys.
From the first whistle, the determination to lift the ExxonMobil trophy was apparent by the intense hunt for an opening goal. Fans did not have to wait too long to see fireworks, as Charlestown’s Captain Malcolm Hendricks came in clutch for his team.
Stealing possession from Ann’s Grove, Hendricks played through the middle and fired a lightning fast shot into the goal, yards outside of the box.
Charlestown’s celebration were short lived, however, as Selwyn Peters levelled the scores for the East Coast outfit. Selwyn Peters kept his eyes fixated on the thrown coming from the sidelines, with a perfectly timed leap and a well-directed head, Peters executed the goal scoring header around the 20th minute.
With a 1-1 lock at the half, the score line set up an entertaining second segment, however regulation time escaped the young ballers without another goal being scored. Extra time was the same and as a result, the champion would be decided on penalties.

There were premature celebrations for Charlestown, but the team proved worthy such, connecting three penalties as compared to Ann’s Grove’s 2.
While Charlestown’ Lupe was the female MVP, their goal keeper was adjudged the best in the girls’ tournament. With two hat tricks and another goal in the final, Azaria Wilson was the tournament’s highest goal scorer.
On the boys’ side, the best goal keeper and MVP Hendricks, came from Charlestown. The highest goal scorer was Jason Sandiford with 13 goals accumulated over the few weeks.
While both Charlestown teams walked away with $300,000 each that will be given in kind for a school project female runner ups East Ruimveldt carted off $150,000 for a project, while 3rd and 4th place New Campbelville Secondary and New Central High were rewarded with $75,000 and $40,000 respectively.
For the boys’, the prize monies were the same, with Cummings Lodge and West Ruimveldt Secondary finishing 3rd and 4th respectively.
The ExxonMobil tournament was also supported by Demerara Distillers’ Limited (DDL) through their Pepsi and Gatorade brands and coordinated by the Petra Organization.