Waramadong exacts revenge against ‘Multi’ 3 – 1 for third place
THE clash between first time finalist Annai Secondary and defending Champions, Chase Academy, was supposed to be mouth-watering, but what fans saw was a lopsided contest in the finals of this year’s Digicel Schools Football Championship which was played last evening at the Leonora Track and Field Facility.
A hat-trick by Stephon Reynolds, along with a double from Nicholas McArthur and a single strike from Ryan Hackett were enough to hand Chase Academy their second title, after playing in their third consecutive final of the country’s most prestigious Schools Football Tournament.
For Annai, supported by the almost capacity crowd, National U-15 star Orville Daniels and his cousin Sherral Daniels were the only two players to find the back of their opponents net.
The win saw Chase Academy pocketing $1M for a school project of their choice, while Annai Secondary collected $700,000.
Waramadong defeated arch rivals, Christianburg Wismar Secondary (Multi) 3 – 1 to finish third, and will head back to Region 7 with $400,000. The Lindeners, who for the first time in the tournament’s seven year history did not feature in the finals, had to settle for $300,000.
Meanwhile, it was clear that the Region 9 School was overwhelmed by the Chase Academy, who were not only more athletic and tactical, but also had a distinct height advantage.
After being greeted by Director of Sport, Christopher Jones, Digicel’s Head of Marketing Jacqueline James and Digicel’s Regional Chief Executive Officer, Gregory Dean , the two teams headed to the touchline amidst thunderous applause from the vociferous crowd.
However, for the Annai Secondary, those cheers were quickly turned into frowns when only nine minutes into the game, McArthur score the first of his two goals.
Eight minutes later (17th minute), Reynolds doubled the score while McArthur, in the 20th minute, scored his second goal and the third of the game after connecting for a point-blank range shot.
Having taken a 3 – 0 lead just 20 minutes into the match, Hackett, in the 37th minute, got on the score sheets to make it 4 – 0 as the Annai fans disappointed turned into stunned silence, since they expected a better showing from their team.
However, in the 41st minute, Orville Daniels gave Annai’s supporters a glimmer of hope, when he scored a free-kick from about 25-yards from goal to stun Sese Norville between the uprights.
The first half ended 4 – 1 but the Annai Secondary players felt that they could roll back to the times to two days earlier when they defeated Waramadong 7 – 5, coming back from being down 4 – 0 in their semi-finals.
Annai Secondary came out with more energy and played with a little more propose as a Sherral Daniels’ shot caught Norville off guard in the 56th minute to reduce the Region 9 boys deficit to two (4 – 2).
But Chase regrouped and showed why they’re the defending champions, with Reynolds scoring in the 69th and 85th minute to complete his hat-trick and eventually put the ‘icing on the cake’ for the city school.
