West Ruimvedlt open tournament with strong statement

WEST Ruimveldt opened the 2023 edition of the Digicel Football Tournament with a statement, thrashing IAE 12-0 as the marquee schools tournament opened in Georgetown yesterday.
Following the March past at the Ministry of Education ground, the action was shared between that venue and the neighboring NIS ground as the Georgetown leg commenced. Present at the March past were organisers of the Petra organisation through co-director, Troy Mendonca, Digicel’s Chief Commercial Officer, Simone Pierre, who did the kick-off, and other officials.
It was at the former venue that West Ruimveldt dominated game six of the day thanks to hat-tricks each from Donovan Welcome (14th, 19th and 40th) and Wayne Solomon (30th, 46th, and 50th).

Braces from Malachi Wray (6th and 45th) and Shamar Griffith (47th and 48th), along with single strikes from Trevor Brent (28th) and Joshua Chance (49th) meant the scoreline read 12-0.
In the opening game, Sahle Butts (1st, 30th, 34th), along with Ryan Greene (25th), and Jamal Leomile (60th) helped Tucville beat Queenstown.

Game two saw the first penalty shootout of the tournament with East Ruimveldt and South Ruimveldt going down to the wire; the former winning by five goals to four.
The regulation time scorers for the winners were Shaquille Dalrimple (56th) and Jaheim Harte (58th) while East had Onesi Dunn (30th) and Tyrese Jacobs (42nd).

Game three had Marian Academy brushing off Ascension 7-0 thanks to goals from Bradley Walton 17th, 24th, 39th), Justin Ten-Pow (7th), Nicholas Jones (11th), Kishon Shamsudeen (34th) and Jeffrey Yargil (43rd).
Game four, the first at NIS ground and one of the two East Coast fixtures carded for the day saw Bladen Hall beat Plaisance with goals from Xavier Ignatius (10th and 50th) and Joel Lallman (12th), Amanackie Jack (55th) and Trevin Drakes (59th).
LBI were also winners at the NIS ground in the second East Coast Fixture when they beat BV 4-0. On the score sheets for the LBI side were Anil Melville (5th), Deshawn Dennis (36th), Jamal Geddes (37th) and Kareem Prince (44th).

NIS ground action continued with Richard Ishmael Secondary beating Freeburg 7-0 in game seven with Christophe Augustus scoring in the 8th, 38th and 56th minutes, along with Joshua Heart (16th), Gary Nedd (18th), Isaiah Braithwaite (45th) and Tyshawn Greene (61st) ensured that the Woolford Avenue side moved onto the next round.

Queen’s College closed off the day with a 2-0 win over Christchurch thanks to Suraj Persaud (39th) and Owen Hooper (50th).
The tournament will have legs in each of the ten administrative regions.
Following the regional rounds, a round-of-32 teams will make up a national championship, of which 13 schools will come from Georgetown.
The National Champions will receive $1,000,000 and the championship trophy with second, third, and fourth-place finishers getting $500,000, $300,000, and $200,000, respectively.
All incentives will go towards a school project with prizes also expected for the Highest Goal Scorer, Best Goalkeeper and Most Valuable Player. Chase’s Academic Foundation are the two-time defending champion, after claiming the title in 2016 and 2017, before the six-year hiatus arose.
This tournament was dominated by Christianburg/Wismar Secondary, who won the title consecutively from 2012 to 2015 when they dethroned the inaugural champion, Georgetown Technical Institute (GTI).