Buccament, Barrouallie take Schools’ Football glory

The Buccament Bay Secondary and the Barrouallie Secondary were crowned Schools’ Football Kings for 2007 when the Coca Cola Competition climaxed last week Friday at the Victoria Park.

Buccament took the Under-16, and Barrouallie retained the Under-20 title.{{more}}

On the afternoon of finals, Buccament edged out the Dr. JP Eustace Memorial, 3-2.

A deadlock 2-2, after the sixty minutes of regulation time necessitated extra time. It took a beautiful header from Keeson Rouse in the first period of extra time to give Buccament their first lien on the title.

Rouse had scored his team’s second and go ahead goal in the 50th minute of the match. This after Leevan Baptiste had opened their account in the 6th minute.

Captain of the Dr. JP Eustace Memorial team, national Under-15 player, Kenroy Williams, was the equaliser on both occasions. First in the 20th minute, then on the stroke of full time, he booted a powerful shot that pounded the crossbar, before crossing the line, to give his team a life line.

Rouse was eventually named Player of the Final.

Like the Under-16, in the Under-20, regulation time was not enough to determine a winner.

But the seniors went the route of penalty kicks. The Intermediate High School was Barrouallie’s opponent, in what was a template of the 2005 exercise.

In pristine conditions, both teams came out blazing, but it was the Barrouallie Secondary that was to be the first in celebration, when a mazy run on the left side by Ronsil Badnock in the 17th minute culminated in him slipping the ball past the Intermediate High goalkeeper to give the sparse crowd a moment of individual brilliance.

Kiko Andrews in the 25th minute cancelled out Badnock’s efforts. Andrews doubled his tally in the 33rd minute, as he somehow got past Rawle Stapleton in the Barrouallie goal to send his team into the ascendancy.

The second half deteriorated into a scrappy affair, more looking like scrimmages, rather than a serious encounter , where a prize and school supremacy were at stake.

Intermediate, reduced to ten players midway in the second half, paid the price, as hesitancy in their defence allowed Badnock to complete his brace in the 73rd minute.

Stapleton turned hero, when he thwarted Ezra Alleyne’s penalty to give his team a 3-2 win from the spot.

Intermediate’s captain and national Under-23 player Cornelius Stewart and Andrews also missed their penalties.

Badnock’s double strikes in regulation time carried his tally in the competition to 13, and copped the Most Goals award.

There was a tie among the Under-16’s for this award, as Jomo Toppin of the Barrouallie Secondary and Dwayne Richards of St. Clair Dacon both scored ten goals.

All finalists received trophies, replicas, and medals.

There were also trophies for the zone winners of both the Under-16 and the Under-20. The Ministry of Education, in conjunction with the Physical Education School Teachers’ Association, was responsible for the organization of the competition. (RT)