…NATI finishes third
THANKS to Darren Peters’ brace, Georgetown zone champions Government Technical Institute (GTI) were crowned champions of the inaugural Digicel sponsored nationwide Inter-school football tournament when they defeated Christianburg/Wismar Secondary School (CWSS) 5-3 when the curtains came down at the Georgetown Cricket Club ground last night.
In the third place playoff, New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) came from behind to first draw level with Waramadong Secondary School (WSS), before edging them 2-1 on penalty kicks in an exciting and enthralling encounter that had the crowd cheering from the opening whistle.
As was predicted, the third place fixture set the tone for an exciting final, which was witnessed by the Honorable Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, who kicked same off, Chief Education Officer Olata Sam, Minister of Education Shaik Baksh and Chief Executive Officer of Digicel Gregory Deen among others.
GTI signaled their intentions to be crowned champions early in the fixture against their opponents who won the Region 10 zone, when Jermine Juno who was later crowned the Most Valuable Player of the finals, wormed his way inside CWSS box, but sent his cross wide of the goal area.
He made amends by scoring his 23rd goal of the tournament in the 20th minute, which also landed him the Most Goals award, when he converted a wonderful pass from Jahall Greaves, the same player who had fed him the ball that landed him his 22nd goal in their semifinal encounter against NATI last Friday night.
GTI had not fully completed celebrating their lead, when Clarence Huggins found the back of the net two minutes later to hand his team the equaliser, before a defence blunder saw Peters scoring the first of his double two minutes after Huggins’ goal.
With the crowd on their feet and cheering on every play, both teams looked to seize the initiative but same was not to be as sturdy defence coupled with exemplary goalkeeping from both custodians, ensured the score remained 2-1 in favour of GTI at lemon time.
Six minutes into the second half  Darrell Fraser made it 3-1 for GTI, before his team’s custodian Nkosie Barker received a caution for unsportsmanlike conduct, when he held onto the feet of CWSS’ Trenton Lashley, who took the ensuing penalty kick and scored same in the 57th minute.
As if spurned on by a second wind following Barker’s blunder, GTI pressed on for a further advantage and duly got same in the 64th minute, thanks to Keifer Adams strike which made the scoreline 4-2 in favour of the Woolford Avenue based team.
Despite trailing their opponents by a two goal deficit, CWSS found a second wind and staged several attacks to the goal and were rewarded when Kwesi Quintin dispossessed GTI’s Kevin Mc Intosh who was guilty of over dribbling the ball, and found an unmarked Lashley who made no mistake to secure his double in the 85th minute.
The score was 4-3 in favour of GTI who were forced to play a defensive mode of football, with the aim of maintaining their lead, but breathed a sigh of relief when Peters scored what was eventually the final goal two minutes from regulation time, to hand his side the championship trophy.
In the third place playoff, Alaska Burnett sent NATI into the lead with his 10th minute strike before Arnon Fredericks scored the equalizer for WSS five minutes later.
NATI regained the lead when Leroy James scored the first of his two goals in the 38th minute, before WSS drew level on the restart of play, thanks to Alwayne Francis’ strike and they took the lead three minutes before lemon time, when Mc Curd Krammer found the back of the net.
James drew his team level with their opponents three minutes into the second half to complete his double and after a see saw battle for possession and the lead ensued, Ron Lyken managed to score from a goal mouth scrimmage to push NATI into the lead in the 81st minute.
Some thought the WSS team had given up with little or no time left in the contest, but instead they saw a renewed fighting spirit and urged on by their throng of supporters who flocked the Rohan Kanhai stand at every vantage point, WSS levelled the score thanks to Dorwin Percy’s 86th minute strike.
Their 13 year old custodian Gerald Isaacs had another magnificent afternoon in between the uprights, just as he did in the semifinals against CWSS on Friday, but when it came to the penalty shootout, NATI who used the services of Devon James as their custodian, came out on top 2-1 to take the third place.
At the brief presentation ceremony that followed, both Prime Minister Hinds and Minister Baksh lauded Digicel for organising such a wonderful tournament, while Deen promised to host the tournament next year, saying it will be ‘Bigger and Better”, in keeping with his Company’s slogan.