Thrilling semi-finals anticipated

Digicel Schools Football Championships

Chase to face Christianburg; Annai clashes with Waramadong

The seventh Digicel’s Schools Football Championships reached the semi-final stage with defending champions Chase Academic Foundation setting a date with arch-rivals Christianburg/Wismar Secondary while Annai Secondary will clash with DC Caesar Fox Secondary (Waramadong) on Thursday at the National Track and Field Centre, Leonora.
The four teams’ passage to this stage was varied, with their quarter-final matches on Tuesday taking different turns.

Chase continued to show their superiority as they hammered Hosororo 10-0 at the Ministry of Education Ground, Carifesta Avenue.
Ryan Hackett and Rondell Peters led the one-sided contest, netting respective braces. Hackett netted in the 14th and 73rd minute while Peters had his share in the onslaught in the 43rd and 81st.
Nicholas McArthur (5th); Adrian Aaron (15th); Kevin Padmore (27th); Stephon Reynolds (28th); Jermaine Garrett (69th) and Jeremy Garrett (90th) were the other players adding to the misery of Hosororo.
Over at Leonora, Waramadong simply outplayed Sir Leon’s Lessons to win 5-2. Reon McNaughton led the rout with a sublime hat-trick, netting in the 34th, 53rd and 55th minute, while Javin Castro (63rd) and Ravi Ruddy (87th) added the other two goals. Tyrese Forde gave Sir Leon’s some respite with a double, netting in the 47th and 79th minute.
At Burnham Park, New Amsterdam, the Daniels brothers, Sherral and Orville, joined with their cousin Niadison to help Annai Secondary inflict a 5-0 win over Region Six Champions Vryman’s Ervin Secondary.
Sherral sent the visitors into the lead in the fifth minute with a well-directed shot wide of a flying goalkeeper.
The visitors found the soggy conditions difficult to play the short pass and as such, many of their passes were intercepted. Vryman’s Ervin, on the other hand, could not penetrate the defence of the Rupununi school team and were only able to have control of the ball in the 18-yard box on four occasions, but they were not able to convert by the time the half-time whistle blew. In the second half, with the visitors having the wind advantage, the floodgates were opened and four goals were scored in the 45 minutes of play. Niadison scored in the 53rd minute and seven minutes later, Sherral again scored as panic started to creep into the home camp, hushing the home crowd.
However, Sherral was able to bring the crowd on his side as he repeatedly dribbled past the Vryman’s Ervin midfield and defence, showcasing his skills much to the delight of spectators. After a failed attempt to penetrate the goalkeeper, his cousin did not fail to convert the rebound in the 72nd minute.
Orville then joined the action and rocked the back of the net with a shot fired 10 feet from the goal line to seal the issue. However, moments before, Vryman’s Ervin Secondary came their closest to scoring when they found the bottom of the cross bar. The ball rebounded to the ground, but was picked up by the defence.
Coach of Annai Secondary, Frank Allicock said his team were able to stick to their game plan, but thought that the home team played a very good game. “For us, it is improvement and a good feeling going into the semi-finals. The team is about 95 per cent; it is just that we were hampered by the condition of the ground. We had good ball possession and our defence was at ‘A’. We did not allow them to control the ball.” Over at the Beterverwagting Ground, Christianburg won 5-4 on penalty kicks after the match ended 1-1.
The first semi-final will kick off from 16:00h, while the final is slated for Sunday at the said venue.
The schools are vying for the top prize of one million dollars towards a school project of their choice, while the second-place finisher will get $700,000, third $400,000 and fourth $350,000, which will go towards a school project of their choice. The top regional teams have been awarded $100,000 each.