ST Johns College, North Ruimveldt Secondary, Chase Academy and Buxton are into the semi-finals of the inaugural ExxonMobil U-14 Schools Football tournament following yesterday’s matches at the Ministry of Education Ground.

In the first of the quarter-finals for males, It was all St Johns College as they beat Marian Academy 2-0 with Dequan Bovell leading the charge in the 6th. Shem Jovis in the 35th sealed the deal for the St Johns side as they moved to the next round.

In the second game, North Ruimveldt were made to work for their win against Tucville. Yannick Norton in the 23rd opened the scoring for the eventual winners, but it was not easy sailing.
Odoyo Harris’ 30th minute strike was enough to draw the game level and set up a mouth-watering remainder of the game. It would take Orlando Sickie’s 46th minute strike to send the North side through.

Game three was a high-scoring fixture where Chase Academy beat Vergenoegen 5-3. While it was Vergenoegen that opened the scoring in the first minute through Timothy Duggin, Chase took a while before the response came.

When it did come, it was Brandon Solomon in the 33rd that brought things level before Jaheel Alcindor gifted Chase the lead for the first time in the 44th. Clinton Jones would bring the West Demerara side level in the 50th and a minute later, Nashawn Livan would put Vergenoegen in the lead again. Seon Cato would level it up for Chase in the 53rd before Kevin Mullin restored Chase’s lead in the 60th and Cato completed his hat-trick and the team’s fifth in the 62nd.

Buxton also featured in a high-scoring result against Dolphin, winning 6-1. A hat-trick from Tyrice Dennis (12th, 18th and 40th) was the dominant force for Buxton with Olashi Primo (23rd),
Samuel Garnett (31st) and Akiem Gaime (48th) also supporting. Dolphin had Jaquan Cole (45th) on target for them.

In the ladies round-robin, Dolphin lost 2-3 to South Ruimveldt after Latesha Sutherland’s double (10th and 44th) and Amanda McKenzie (19th) lead the way. Dolphin had Kezia Parkinson (30th) and Niomi Williams (35th) scoring.

New Campbellville needled Tucville 1-0 as Alicia Maynard was the decider in the 28th while East Ruimveldt got the better of Tucville 2-0, thanks to Gilana King (28th) and Tamara Mendonca (35th).

Charlestown registered the biggest win in the female category with a 4-0 drubbing of Uitvlught. Tynesha Thorne (10th), Donna Lowe (19th), Annera Alim (24th) and Akilah Koster (39th) each scored once.

The tournament, which is also sponsored by the Ministry of Public Health and Demerara Distillers Limited through its Pepsi Brand, will continue next weekend at the Ministry of Education Ground. (ssookram@guyanachronicle.com)