ON Sunday, defending champions of the Republic Bank Limited (RBL) Guyana Secondary School Football League, Chase Academic Foundation will face their final hurdle on the path to a successful title defense when they meet Dolphin Secondary.
Both teams, which are on 18 points each after five rounds of action will do battle at the Ministry of Education Ground with the defending champions holding a slim lead by virtue of a superior goal difference.

Organisers, the Petra Organisation on Wednesday at the Bank’s Waterloo Corporate office held a faceoff between the two captains set to duel it out for the league title.
Director of Petra Troy Mendonca said that league tournaments, like this one, are a key developmental pillar for the growth of the game at the youth levels.

“As part of our mandate and philosophy we will always fight to have a league among the best schools especially at the U-18 level because we believe the league itself contributed to the development of the player, the sport and for us to reach to this point where we have the final game that will decide the winner of this tournament it speaks volumes for the level of competition that we had in this tournament.”

Republic Bank representative Onika Austin said the company is always eager to support youths in the area of sports.
“Helping us to continue in our thrust of youth empowerment and sport is very important and Republic Bank has always been a part of developing our communities, making it better and sport is one such way that we can do that, so we are looking forward to an exciting set of matches on Sunday and may the best team win.”

Dolphin coach Ranole Bourne says that his players have been working hard and will be ready come match-day, adding, “They have been putting the work and it’s only left for them come on Sunday to execute all we would have done through the training session……We are in it to win it and to do our utmost and the utmost is to get that W(win) and come out victorious in the tournament.”

While Chase Academy representative Oronde Chase said, “On Sunday, the spectators and the opposing team should expect a grueling and hard match, it will be a match with excitement and goals scored.”
Chase and Dolphin have already qualified as the top two team to compete in the KFC goodwill international series in December.

The 2024 champion is set to collect $300,000 for their school towards a project along with a trophy and medals, while the runners-up walk away with $200,000 for their school.
Third-place get $150,000 along with a trophy and medals.
Individual awards will go toward highest goal scorer and best goalkeeper.