Chase, Santa Rosa to meet again in Massy U18 final

A rematch of the 2023 Massy Distribution Under-18 Football final is set to take centre stage this Saturday at the Ministry of Education (MoE) Ground, Carifesta Avenue, offering an enticing glimpse of the current “top dogs” in youth football.
2024 champions and 2025 runners-up, Chase’s Academic Foundation will take on Santa Rosa Secondary, who won their first title back in 2023.
The teams’ ascension to the final came in contrasting fashion as Chase pulled off a 7–0 mauling of Charlestown Secondary while Santa Rosa was made to toil in a tense penalty shootout against West Ruimveldt Secondary.
Quizzed on the semi-final round, Captains Shaquan David and Dane Phillips recounted their team’s progression to the final.
Chase’s Shaquan David shared, “Well, the opposition, they come out and play, but at the end of the day, we are the better team, and we play, and we got the victory.”
“Yeah, they come out and they put up a fight, especially in the first half; they had we a bit shaky, but in the second half, we catch ourselves and we start getting more goals in the second half,” David went on to admit.
“I know I had confidence in my team; I talked to them. I just want to give a big shout out to my coach; he really motivated us, and I just hope he comes back with us at the finals, and I know we got this in the finals too,” Santa Rosa’s Phillips noted.

The defender said about the penalty shootout, “For me, I was very nervous. It’s my first time meeting in a penalty shootout like this in a semi-final. Well, I talked to my players, I motivate them and we did well.”
In interviews with this publication, the respective captains went on to share what they will be working on ahead of the big game.
Chase’s midfielder related, “I personally think we should work on playing the ball more, keeping it more, letting the opposition work for it more.”
“I think we will go back home, do more running; we need more stamina, and we need more communication,” Phillips shared.
Both having the 2023 final at the back of their minds, where Santa Rosa got the better of Chase on penalty kicks, David insisted that his team has a point to prove, while Phillips believed they could pull off the heist again.
“I prefer nobody. Anybody we’ll play. Whoever wins, win,” David had said prior to knowing their opposition in the final. He later expressed to this publication, “Yeah, we have a point to prove, a big point.”
Phillips shared, “It’s not my first time, and I think we got the potential to do it again and to carry home this trophy. I got confidence in my players, and I know we gonna go, work twice as hard as we normally do, and we gonna come back better.”
The Massy Distribution U18 final is scheduled for Saturday, May 2 at 18:00h. Prior to that, West Ruimveldt and Charlestown Secondary will meet in the third-place playoff at 16:00h.