– Defending champs to clash with Stella Maris Primary

THE race is never for the swift and when defending champions St Pius struggled in the early stages of the competition, many worried and wondered if the ‘champs’ will be able to ‘keep up’ but yesterday, behind a five goal haul from striker Raymond Austin, St Pius Primary slammed Tucville Primary 6 – 1 to reach the finals of the Petra Organisation/COURTS Pee Wee Football Tournament.

They (St Pius) will face one of the most unlikely of teams in the finals, Stella Maris Primary who defeated South Ruimveldt 3 – 1 on penalty kicks.

“This is our tournament” exclaimed Head Coach Wayne Ritchie as he spoke to Chronicle Sports during his team’s celebration after the match at the Banks DIH Thirst Park.

It was a one-sided affair and Austin (2nd, 4th and 9th minutes) had scored all three of his team’s goals in the first half which had the ‘champs’ leading 3 – 0 at the end of the first half.
Tucville equipped with the ‘Marques duo’ Kevon and Rayheem (no relation), who collectively have scored more goals in the tournament than any other player, was no match for the tenacious defending of St Pius who kept the goal hungry strikers at bay.

St Pius easily broke down the flimsy defence of Tucville Primary and were able to race to a 4 – 0 lead early in the second half with Selwyn Jones netting the goal.

Keion Marques tried to pull Tucville back in the game, scoring in the 21st minute, but Austin then fired home two more goals – first time in the 24th minute and then putting the icing on the cake four minutes later.

“I’m happy with the team’s performance and now we’re just waiting to play the finals” said Ritchie, while adding “we started slow and there were some concerns but I think the players have been responding well in training and I can see them trying their best to put what we were practising so I’m happy”.

Meanwhile, it took penalty kicks to decide the winners of the semi-finals clash between Stella Maris and South Ruimveldt.

The two schools were considered sleeping giants and had slowly crawled their way into the spotlight, but as they say “many are called, but few are chosen” and as such, there could’ve only been one winner.

The score was nil at the end of extra time and regulation, and heading into penalty kicks, it was a wide open game.

South Ruimveldt only have themselves to blame for the lost, since they took their kicks poorly and Stella Maris comfortably made good of their chances from the charity spot.

The finals will be played on Sunday November 16 at the same venue.

(By Rawle Toney)