By Iva Wharton
Moruca Secondary of Region One and Charity Secondary of Region Two are the first two schools into the quarter finals of the Digicel School’s Football Tournament currently being played across the country.
This is Moruca’s first year as Regional Champions while Charity is advancing to the quarter finals for the second consecutive year. Speaking with Stabroek Sports at the Settlement Ground, Mabaruma, Moruca’s Coach Earl Richards said that he was pleased that his team has been crowned regional champions and even more excited that they have advanced to the quarter finals.
“It was hard work to get here and we know that we could work harder and do better as we go along,” he said.
Speaking about the disqualification of former champions Port Kaituma and their challenger Hosororo, Richards said it was heartrending.
“Number one, you have young players who are there but then why would you want to put in older players and make everybody get disqualified?
“It is harder on the team but then again it is the coaches you ought to blame, why would you want to do that?”
Richards said that his youngest player is 14-years-old with the team comprising players from forms two to five. The team, he said, was in training six weeks prior to their first match against Mabaruma Secondary on Saturday.
With one week to prepare for their quarter final match, Richards was asked what were some of their weak areas that need strengthening.
“As soon as we get in back we will ask for support from the more experienced players that would have played club competitions in Georgetown for technical assistance.
“We know we have the talent, but we still have to do a little bit more work,” he added.
With the final not being played between Moruca and Hosororo, the two sides nevertheless engaged in a friendly match which saw Moruca securing a 4-1 victory over Hosororo on Sunday.
The scorers for Moruca Secondary were Dominique Heyliger with three goals and Brendon Phillips with one.
Moving on to the quarter finals both Moruca and Charity Secondary were outfitted with football gear which would carry them through to the finals should they get there.
At the Tucville Ground yesterday, Saint Stanislaus College defeated Sophia Special School 7-0. The scorers for Saints were Donavon Mickle with three goals, Kwesi Thompson with two while Captain Charlton Gaspar and Skeet Beaton scored one goal apiece.
After the match Gaspar said that he was pleased with his team’s performance.
“We played fairly well, we focused on defending most of the time and when we had the opportunity to go on the offence and score we did.”
According to him, Sophia played well but that they were the better team and proved to be a force to reckoned with.
“It’s good to see that our efforts on the training ground was paying off because we are taking this tournament very seriously and we have been training for two and half weeks and it was good that everybody played as well as they did”. Last year, Saints was knocked out of the competition in their first match against Saint Mary’s High School. That the captain said will not be happening this year.
