Digicel Schools’ Football Championships 2023: Inviolable Carmel romp to first Digicel title

Story and photos by Jemima Holmes

Carmel Secondary School have had to confront Region 8 Champions Kato Secondary, Georgetown Champions Dolphin Secondary, Region 7 Champions D.C Caesar Fox (Waramadong) Secondary, and Region 9 Champions St. Ignatius Secondary in this year’s edition of the Digicel Schools’ Football Championship.
And those champions were all conquered as this Georgetown team, which did not even find a place in the District’s top four this year, lifted their first Digicel Schools’ Football Championship Trophy on Sunday night.

In what is being regarded as one of the best comeback tales in Digicel football history, Carmel proved they are made of the stuff of champions when they comfortably defeated St. Ignatius Secondary 3-1 in the final of this tournament, played at the Ministry of Education (MoE) ground on Georgetown’s Carifesta Avenue.

Carmel looked an entirely better team in the final, and as usual, striker and Captain Shem James dropped back into the attacking midfield position to fortify his team. That and other tactics from this Charlestown-based outfit seemed to have worked effectively to keep St. Ignatius Secondary at bay; but not before some initial fireworks.
The Rupununi team were actually the first to strike. Captain Reyaz Williams fed Romel Ernest a beauty of a pass in the box, and Ernest, with a striking left-footed shot, sent the ball into the corner of the net for the advantage in the 13th minute.
However, that was the last mistake that Carmel’s keeper Ray Richards made for the remainder of their 90 minutes’ contest.

The sea of blue supporters for St. Ignatius Secondary were shocked into silence three minutes later, when Carmel’s Marcus Layne chipped one over the head of the St. Ignatius goalie for the equalizer. The silence became even more deafening in the 28th minute of the encounter when one of Carmel’s standout players, Ian Daniels, outfoxed the defender on the wing, and with a perfectly placed right-footed shot, brought the scores to 2-1 in Carmel’s favour.
The remainder of the half went quietly, and though St. Ignatius started the second half with fresh intensity, they were unable to get past a formidable Richards in the nets.

Carmel Captain Shem James, who had been working overtime up to this point, fortuitously found himself in the right place at the right time in the 78th minute to head a set piece into the nets for his team’s 3rd goal in their 3-1 victory.
In the third-place playoff, Bevon Jones added 6 goals to his already large tally to lead D.C Caesar Fox (Waramadong) Secondary to an 8-0 victory over Waramuri Primary Top and the third- place trophy. Jones first found the back of the net as early as the 4th minute of the game, and went on to score in the 11th, 18th, 33rd, 34th and 65th minutes.
Adding to Jones’s 6, Carrington Isaacs (51st) and Dominic Elliman (90th+2) each netted one goal.

For the tournament’s individual awards, Carmel’s Ian Daniels was adjudged the Most Valuable Player of the 2023 tournament, while Waramadong’s Jones was the Highest Goal-Scorer with 21 goals. Carmel’s Ray Richards was deemed the Safest Pair of Hands in the tournament, while D.C Caesar Fox were the tournament’s Most Disciplined Team.
The top four teams: Carmel, St. Ignatius, D.C Caesar Fox and Waramuri Top, will respectively receive $1M, $500,000, $300,000 and $200,000 for a school project of their choice.