Power, size and speed trumped skill and technique yesterday evening when Wismar/Christianburg Secondary, led by five goals from Marmalique Davidson, hammered Waramadong Secondary to a 5-2 defeat in the final of the Digicel Schools Football Championships at the Police Sports Club ground, Eve Leary.
Arguably one of the better football finals of 2012, the fans that packed the Eve Leary bleachers and ground were more supportive of the Region Seven Waramadong team but the school team had an early scare in the opening minutes when Wismar/Christianburg penalty shot went straight into the outstretched hands of Waramadong’s goalkeeper.
However, after their early blunder, Waramadong easily imposed their superior skill set and understanding of the game with smooth passes scoring the first goal in the 31st minute with a brilliant attack from the left flank that saw a cross falling on the boot of Cirilo George who simply shot into the opening goal.
Twelve minutes afterwards, in the 43rd minute, Wismar/Christianburg, who wasted the early penalty made no mistake this time around as Davidson received a pass in the 18-yard box and duly placed the ball to the right side of Waramadong’s ‘keeper as the first half ended 1-1.
The tall, bulky and fast Davidson wasted no time in securing a 2-1 advantage for the Linden-based secondary school when he netted on a counter attack in the 48th minute.
The speed of the Lindeners was increasingly becoming a major factor in the second half as Davidson received another lobbed pass again to net another goal in the 54th minute to make the score 3-1.
Waramadong, on the other hand, continued to showcase their superior skill set with back heel and dummy passes and won themselves a penalty in the 62nd minute.
Whazar Braserme accurately pushed the ball right of Christianburg’s keeper to bring the carry the score to 3-2.
After Braserme’s penalty play turned a bit passive between both teams as they shared possession just before Davidson got free on a counter attack after a disappointing effort by Waramadong to score and netted another goal for the Linden side in the 83rd minute which saw the score at 4-2.
Davidson, the eventual finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) then added insult to injury by netting his fifth goal on the 90 minute mark to seal the fate of Waramadong to carry the score line to 5-2.
Meanwhile, in the third place playoff St. Ignatius demolished Bygeval Secondary 6-2.
St. Ignatius from Region Nine (Lethem) wasted no time as Marvin Smith hammered in a goal in the 10th minute to get the ball rolling.
Shafer George of St. Ignatius then added another goal to the tally of the Lethem based high school by netting a goal in the 40th minute before Bygeval replied with a goal a minute afterwards through Mark Joseph.
St. Ignatius would not let Bygeval get too close as Samuel Charles skillfully placed the ball past the right hand side of Bygeval’s goalkeeper to make the score 3-1 heading into the half.
George, in the second half, scored the next three goals for St. Ignatius in the 51st, 69th and the 87th minutes to win the game for the Lethem team to the welcome response of the Eve Leary crowd.
Digicel’s CEO Gregory Dean, at the presentation ceremony held right after the game promised to keep the tournament running and to come bigger and better next year.
