CHRISTIANBURG/Wismar and Bartica Secondary Schools have both advanced to the second round of this year’s second annual Digicel sponsored nationwide Under-17 Inter-secondary School football tournaments, following wins over Kwakwani and Three Miles Secondary Schools respectively. Playing at the Kwakwani Secondary School ground last Saturday, the visitors came away with a comfortable 3-1 victory over their host, while simultaneously at the Bartica ground, the home team defeated 3 Miles Secondary 2-1 for the second successive year.
Watched by a fair-sized and supportive crowd, Kwakwani appeared nervous at the start and as early as the 14th minute fell behind compliments of some neat exchanges between three opposing players that eventually concluded with the pint-sized Joshawn Moore sinking a wonderful shot over Josh Parvatan’s head.
Buoyed by their early success, Christianburg / Wismar attacked with menace, with Moore and Allan Halley leading their team’s challenge for more goals, forcing Kwakwani to exhibit some robust defending to deny them.
However, Christianburg / Wismar who was clearly the superior team technically, continued to exhibit the skill and wizardry that will certainly be a real threat to any other team in the competition, along with patience, hence it was not surprising when they found the back of the net a second time.
It came through the ever present Moore, who found himself unmarked in the penalty area after smartly trapping a perfectly weighed cross from the right flank, swiveling with ease, before cracking a fiercely struck right-footer past Parvatan.
With more and more residents entering the Park to urge on the home team, the visitors from Linden were not intimidated and struck again when Halley collected a clever pass from the right side, weaved past two defenders, before calmly slotting the ball home from close range in the 34th minute of play to make it 3-0.
That goal, though, which came in the opening period seemed to knock the wind out of the Kwakwani players, or so it seemed, until the introduction of Shameer Viverious, who immediately injected some life into his team.
Viverious instantly showed his class, dissecting players at will in one instance only to see his powerful strike produce a magnificent save from the competent Yannick Simmons, who tipped his swerving effort over the crossbar for a corner.
It was the first real show of force from the hosts and it created a sign of hope for the second half after the half time whistle sounded with Christianburg / Wismar holding a comfortable 3-0 lead and on the resumption, a more determined effort from Kwakwani forced Christianburg/Wismar to go on the defensive.
Relentless attacks from Viverious bore fruit when he found enough space inside the 18-yard box after receiving a pass from the middle and unleashed a rasping drive that skimmed the finger tips of Simmons, before landing safely into the back of the goal.
It was a shot of pace and power and a fitting result for a player that worked tirelessly to get his team back into the game, but it was  a case of a little too late as the visitors shut shop and eased over the line without any more alarms to move on into the next round.
In the Bartica/3 Miles encounter, Colin Chanderbhan of 3 Miles scored the first goal in the 18th minute, before Kelt Welcome found the equalizer for Bartica Secondary in the 40th minute, to see his team commence the second half on a level playing field as their opponents.
They took the advantage two minutes after play got underway for the second segment, compliments of an Antonio De Santos goal and for the remainder of the contest, Bartica valiantly denied 3 Miles from finding the equalizer they were desperately trying to locate, after many attempts.
Bartica have now booked a date with Waramadong Secondary, a team they lost to in last year’s tournament when the two clashed last year, while Waramadong went on to finish third in the tournament after they were defeated by Linden Technical Institute.
The action continues today with two more matches, at the Tucville ground, Mercy Wings take on Houston Secondary, while at the Camptown Football Club ground, Freeburg Secondary and Ascension Secondary Schools will do battle with both matches kicking off at 1530hrs.