… WSS and NATI to battle for third place
KNOWN better for its historic hosting of Test cricket in the past, the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC) ground is set to come alive from 16:00hrs this afternoon, when the curtain comes down on the inaugural Digicel-sponsored nationwide schools football tournament. Region 10 champions Christianburg/Wismar Secondary School (CWSS) and their Georgetown counterparts Government Technical Institute (GTI) will do battle for the championship trophy and one year of bragging rights from 18:00hrs in what can be described as an interesting fixture.
Preceding that encounter will be the third place playoff between the energetic Waramadong Secondary School (WSS) and New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI), which, if lives up to expectations, can serve as the perfect appetiser for the final.
The school from the mining town of Linden booked their passage into tonight’s final with a hard-fought 3-2 penalty-kicks victory over WSS, while GTI stopped NATI – their counterparts from Berbice – with a regulation time 3-2 victory.
For tonight’s encounter, GTI will be looking to the tournament’s leading goalscorer Jermine Junor, who has found the back of the net 21 times since the commencement of the tournament on June 15. 125 schools from the 10 Administrative Regions of Guyana and Georgetown have been competing for supremacy.
Their hard-working skipper Eon Alleyne who plays for Fruta Conquerors in the overlapping midfield position, Kiefer Adams, Kevin McIntosh and Darren Peters will work in support to Junor, while their custodian Nkosie Barker and national Under-23 defender Joshua Browne will spearhead their team’s defensive lineup.   
Jahall Greaves, Pernell Providence, Phillip Benjamin, Denzel Henry, Treon Adams and Darrel Fraser are all useful customers to GTI’s coaching staff. CWSS’ work is cut out for them, as they seek to take the championship trophy back to the mining town.
Clarence Huggins has been the first man to find the back of the net for CWSS throughout the tournament in every game they played and will be looking to continue that trend in tonight’s final, especially with a lot riding on their team.
They had to fight tooth and nail to defeat WSS who led them by the odd goal in three in their semifinal encounter, while in their quarterfinal matchup against St Ignatius, some say the soggy conditions underfoot helped them to advance.
No doubt, their custodian Yannick Simon is a useful customer between the uprights despite his height. He proved that time and time again throughout the tournament, especially in the match against St Ignatius.
But how he handles the attack of a rampaging GTI unit, led by Junor, who said he is hungry for goals and Alleyne who possesses a deadly right foot with any dead ball is left to be seen tonight.
Omeion Wills has played a robust role as an overlapping left back and is expected to do so again tonight for CWSS, but Allan Halley, Mario Batson, Gavin Morrison and skipper Trenton Lashley should know by now that they need to offer better support to Huggins, if they intend to live up to the tag of tournament favourites at the end of the 90 minutes encounter.
WSS showed great spirit and true sportsmanship, following their loss to CWSS in the semifinal and with a huge throng of supporters behind them, filling the Rohan Kanhai stand to near capacity Friday night, they will be looking to make amends with a third place position this afternoon.
Sievert Roland displayed excellent foot works with the ball in Friday’s encounter, drawing loud cheers along with oohs and aahs from the small but appreciative crowd on hand which included Digicel’s Chief Executive Officer Gregory Deen and Marketing Manager Jacqueline James along with other staff.
But football is a team sport and not a one-man show as some may tend to think and if WSS intend to get past a determined NATI, they will need to come together as a team, which was evident in their semifinal encounter Friday night.
In this regard, Seon Ambrose, Rohee Abrams, Jose Cush, Riddick Williams and the hard-working duo of Tyson McNaughton and Alwayne Francis, will need to come together and give support to Roland for this afternoon’s fixture, while their custodian Gregory Isaacs shows he is a force to be reckoned with between the uprights.
NATI will be looking at redemption, having suffered the defeat to GTI in a battle of the tertiary institutions on Friday.
However, if they intend to land the third place position against a game WSS lineup, their coaching staff will need to put a hungry-looking Devon James in the forward position, instead of the midfield where he played on Friday for the first 45 minutes and found it hard to penetrate GTI’s defence.
Deron Wallerson will perform duties between the uprights, while their four-man defensive wall is led by Ron Lyken, with support from Orlando Garner, Whitney La Rose, who can also overlap from that position and score goals, and Aubrey Shepherd.
At the front, James will look to Treshawn Moore, Julius Knight, Leroy James and Yannick Burnett for tangible support, with Alaska Burnett, Joylon Campbell and Trevis Sinclair coming off the bench to support the starting eleven.
The tournament is being played under the slogan ‘Unite, Develop and Excel” and certainly, Digicel who has been providing the sole sponsorship for this tournament which, according to Deen, can become an annual affair on the educational calendar, has achieved their goal in uniting, developing and even helping players excel with this tournament.
Who will be crowned the Digicel national Inter-secondary school champions after the final whistle is blown tonight is left to be seen, but one thing is certain, fans who throng the world-renowned venue to have a firsthand view of the two encounters which promise to be enthralling, would not be disappointed.