HANDED a fairytale place in the finals after Christ Church Secondary were disqualified, Lodge Secondary School failed to make good use of the opportunity, going under to Charlestown Secondary 2-0 in the Boys’ final of this year’s Scotiabank/Pepsi

Football Academy yesterday at the Ministry of Education, Carifesta Avenue-based ground.
Having seen Tutorial Secondary School stamp their authority by defeating New Campbellville Secondary 1-0 in the Girls’ final earlier in the day, Lodge, who were defeated 4-1 by Christ Church in their semifinals last week at the same venue and Charlestown took the field amidst bragging rights from their numerous supporters, which included fellow students, on the sidelines.
A tense first half in which stern defensive work was the order of the day from both teams followed the opening whistle, but the second half was far different as Charlestown came out hunting a victory in keeping with their pre-tournament favourites tag.
A solo run from Omari James saw him end deep in Lodge’s third, before he sent a gem of a pass to one of his sidekicks in Anthony Bartholomew, who made no mistake in placing the ball at the back of the net in the 37th minute, sparking off celebrations on and off the field.
As Lodge went in search of the equaliser, with their skipper Kevin Boters, along with Ryan Hackett, Shemar Smith and Shaquille Grovesnor trying hard to find the back of Charlestown’s net, the opposition who were led by James, Bartholomew and Brian Price, looked to increase their lead.
They managed to do so when James, who entered the contest with 16 goals and his hand on the top goalscorer trophy, scored his 17th, courtesy of a Bartholomew cross, when the diminutive midfielder eluded three of his markers and returned the favour shown by James earlier, in the 55th minute of play.
Certainly, that goal took the winds out of Lodge’s sails as they looked desperately for an opportunity to reduce their opponents’ lead, something that was not to be as Charlestown defended heavily, with at times 10 of their players were behind the ball, when Lodge went on the attack.
In the female encounter, Atavia Grovesnor’s goal which was enough to hand Tutorial the female title ahead of New Campbellville Secondary, who despite their defeat, fought tooth and nail with their more illustrious opponents but were unlucky.
At the simple presentation ceremony that followed, which saw Golden Jaguars’ striker Vurlon Mills assisting, Tournament Coordinator Lawrence ‘Sparrow’ Griffith applauded all the teams for their sterling efforts displayed during the tournament.
Griffith also told his audience that next week’s national playoffs will be held at the same venue and will see Charlestown and St George’s, the top two teams of Group B along with Group ‘A’ winners Lodge and their runners-up Tutorial take on the top teams from Berbice and Linden respectively.
With regard to the individual prizes, Queen’s College’s Terron Alleyne was named the Best Goalkeeper in the Boys category, with Christ Church’s Shevia Riley taking the honours on the distaff side, while James won the Most Goals for the Boys and Cindy McPherson of New Campbellville Secondary did so for the Girls.