Photos by Orlando Charles
The Ministry of Education ground on Carifesta Avenue was transformed into Region Seven as Waramadong Secondary through an inspired Whazir Bascombe second-half performance blanked Region One winners, Santa Rosa Secondary 4-0 in their Digicel national quarterfinal encounter.
As action in the U18 Football Tournament continued and watched by the largest crowd to date under soggy conditions, Waramadong Secondary buoyed by their raucous following would take the hard-fought lead through a 62nd-minute Bascombe conversion.
Receiving the ball on the right side of the field, the burly centre forward would evade three markers before striking a well-placed right- footed strike in the centre of the six-yard area right down the middle of the goal to send their huge `fandom’ into celebrations.
Waramadong would double their lead four minutes later following a simple tap inside the six-yard area by Bascombe after the Santa Rosa custodian failed to gather the ball cleanly.
The gulf in experience began to appear as the Region Seven champions further strengthened their already strong position as Bascombe completed his hat trick with a 71st minute strike.
Cutting in from the left flank, Bascombe would unleash a powerful right- footed strike from within the edge of the 18-yard area that evaded the Santa Rosa shot stopper and nestled into the back of the net after striking the bottom of the right upright.
Waramadong would seal their semi-final berth in the 82nd minute with Bascombe completing his helmet trick through a low right-footed strike to the bottom right hand corner of the goal from just outside the 18-yard box.
In a post-match comment, victorious coach Delon Bissoon stated “We played good football. The win means a lot to us. The aim is to win the entire tournament as we don’t want to let our region down”.
Losing coach Earl Richard in an invited comment noted “Basically we didn’t stick to our plan. We got a few opportunities in the first half that we didn’t capitalize on. The players are inexperienced in these conditions and even though we lost, we got a lot out of it”.
Over at the Burnham Park ground in New Amsterdam, Georgetown Champions St. George’s Secondary through goals from Azuma Small and Orin Moore in the 34th and 65th minutes edged New Amsterdam Technical Institute (NATI) 2-1 in their final eight match-up.
Shamar Richards netted for NATI in the 47th minute.
Defending National Champions and Region 10 representatives Wismar/ Christianburg Secondary powered by a Jashawn Moore double in the 31st and 73rd minutes swamped Region Five winners Ash Educational Institute 4-0 in their quarterfinal match-up.
Region Four winners Covent Garden Secondary edged Region Three champions Leonora Secondary 4-3 in the final quarterfinal fixture at the Grove Community Centre ground on the East Bank of Demerara.
Travin Gaskin, Kevin Agard, Roddick McKenzie and Ricky Dass were on target for the East Bank side in the 45th, 73rd, 75th and 80th minutes respectively.
Registering goals in a losing cause was Aubrey Greene, Jamal Perreira and Gavin Graham in the 25th, 60th and 85th minutes respectively.
The semifinal round commences on Wednesday. In the first semifinal match-up, Waramadong Secondary will oppose Covent Garden Secondary while Wismar/ Christianburg Secondary will lock horns with St. George’s Secondary in the other semifinal.
