Christianburg/Wismar and Waramadong Secondary will battle for the third consecutive time for the Digicel Secondary Schools u-18 championship, following semi-final wins over Beterverwagting (BV) and Bush Lot Secondary respectively on Friday.
Over at the Burnham Park ground in New Amsterdam, two time defending national champs Christianburg/Wismar Secondary defeated Region five champions and maiden semi-finalists Bush Lot Secondary 2-1 on penalty kicks after normal time finished 1-1.
Marlon Nicholson gave the Berbicians the early lead compliments of a powerful 20 yard right footed freekick from just outside the penalty area, which rifled into the top right hand corner of the goal.
The defending champions would eventually level the scores in the 73rd minute through an Anthony Layne strike past the custodian, after pouncing on a weak clearance from a cross to push the matchup into the lottery that is a penalty shootout.
With the momentum on their side, the Linden unit would eventually prevail 2-1 on penalty kicks to book their fourth consecutive finale. They will now match skills once more with the old enemy Waramadong Secondary after they edged first semi-finalists BV Secondary also on penalty kicks.
Hosted at the BV ground on the East Coast of Demerara, Dion Rodrigues gave the visitors the early lead, silencing the home crowd through a 19th minute conversion. Their lead would then be doubled in the 72nd minute as Uriah King netted.
The home side would then cut the deficit to one three minutes later as Paul Kingston found the back of the net. The matchup would then be levelled 10 minutes later as Okemie Hoppie etched his name on the scorer’s sheet.
With a penalty shoot-out required to decide the outcome, the home side would fail to capitalise on their recent resurgence as the visitors prevailed by a 4-3 score line to book their third consecutive finals appearance.
They will now faceoff with Christianburg/Wismar Secondary on August 3rd at the National Stadium in Providence in the finale while BV Secondary will battle Bush Lot Secondary in the earlier third place playoff.
