By Tiadi Blair
And action-packed weekend wrapped up yesterday at Scote Primary School ground in New Amsterdam where the final of the New Amsterdam Primary and Secondary School Foundation (NAPSS) first annual schools football tournament was played with Tutorial Academy winning after a 95-minute game and penalty shoot out against opponents Diamond Elvin Secondary School.
The weather was fair and Berbicians came out in droves to support their own in what was an edge-of-your-seat match between the first finalists of the competition organized by the NAPSS committee.
Diamond Elvin Secondary School was the first to score in the first 10 minutes of the game before Tutorial Academy crept up and equalized in the 11th minute.
It was cat and mouse play between the two teams who were determined to be the first holders of the tournament trophy. After equalizing Tutorial Academy stepped it up a notch to 2 -1. When the two teams returned from halftime Diamond Elvin took the score to 3-2 before Tutorial Academy returned the favour.
In the 88th minute the game was drawn 3-3 before spilling over to extra time, lasting seven minutes as both teams proved they were worthy of being champions and at the end of extra time the score was 4-all.
However it was the penalty shootout which justified the eventual winners of the tournament. Diamond Elvin were unable to score any penalties and it was Tutorial Academy with 4 which propelled them to championship status.
New Amsterdam Multilateral School took the third place spot after winning their match against Berbice High School.
Rosignol Secondary School was unable to make the top three but managed to secure fifth position with 4-1 against counterparts Canje Secondary School.
There was also a friendly match in the earlier part of the day between the football veterans for old times sake with the likes of Roger Alphonso, Adrian Forde, Brian Simpson and Monty Fordyce sharing the field. The veterans played against the Georgetown Football Club defeating them after an entertaining game, 1-nil.
