FIVE years, five finals, one runner-up finish and three titles; that’s the story of the Christianburg/Wismar Secondary in the Digicel Schools Football tournament. The Lindeners are the tournament’s most storied school, and after swamping their arch rivals Waramadong 4-0 on Wednesday last in the semi-finals, coach Anthony Stephens and his troops are now focusing on winning their fourth title.
After losing to the Georgetown Technical Institute (GTI) in the inaugural tournament, ‘Multi’ is yet to lose.
Their opponents for Sunday’s final of the nationwide championship are Chase Academy – first-time finalists but known to ‘Multi’.
The two schools did clash in a friendly match earlier this year where the defending Digicel champions came out victorious 4-3.
“Pressure will be on them; not us. We have nothing more to prove in this tournament,” coach Stephens told Chronicle Sport during an interview, after wrapping up a convincing win over Waramadong in front of a capacity crowd at Leonora Track & Field Facility.
The coach stressed that winning the tournament for as long as possible is his ultimate goal. He stated that after reaching their fifth consecutive final with a possibility of capturing their fourth title, the onus will be on the other teams to knock them off the top of the hill.
“After a while, people might think the tournament is easy for us, but really it’s not. A lot of hard work is put into getting these guys to play as a team, especially since every year, you keep getting new players. It’s not easy, but we work hard. I’m grateful for the commitment these players make to the programme and the good thing is we have an entire community behind us,” Stephens said.
He added, “For Chase, a lot of pressure will be on them to bring the title back to Georgetown because since the first year, we had it in Linden. We’re used to the pressure and we welcome it. As a coach, along with my assistant (Delon Peters), it will be our job to keep these players focused and ready for Sunday. We will be working hard because Chase is a very good team and we respect them so we have to stay focused”
According to Stephens, while he doesn’t want to sound boastful about his chances on Sunday, “The players will be going out there and playing for the entire community of Linden. It’s the most we could do to show them how much we appreciate the support they’ve given to us over the years. Even the schools we defeat on our way here, they support us as well. The parents of these players and the people of Linden, we will be playing for them.”
With the talent pool available, the Christianburg/Wismar Secondary school coach said that no less than ten players from his current roster will be returning next year as they hope to stake claim of the second lien trophy up for grabs and pocket another $1M prize.