Eastern Boys Government School, yesterday continued its triumphant march toward the national final of the 2013 Atlantic National Primary Schools Football League, when the team thrashed Valencia Government RC, at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo.
The Port-of-Spain team, which eased to victory, raced into an early lead when Kidane Lewis struck his free kick past the Kelvern Celestine in the Valencia Gov’t RC post in the opening minutes of the encounter. Giovanni Gordon doubled the score in the 23rd minute with a well placed shot to put his team in the ascendency.
On the resumption, Valencia pressed forward and should have pulled one back goal due to poor defensive work by the Eastern Boys but the chance was wasted.
Though pressed by Valencia, the champion of the capital city responded with a quick break, before Jahlil James scored to make it 3-0. James was again on the mark in the 50th minute when he got his double by placing the ball in the left corner of the net.
The second semi-final in Tobago saw a postponement as the venue, Shaw Park was waterlogged. After the Fire Service arrived to pump water off the surface, host Whim Anglican faced Eastern giant Arima Boys RC, for the second spot in the final. In the end, Whim reigned supreme, winning the match 6-3 to book a spot in next Wednesday’s title match against Eastern Boys Goverment.
The final will be played at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo, before the U-15 boys and the U-15 girls final.
Eastern Boys in Atlantic final.
By Ian Prescott (Express).
Valencia Government Primary School got nothing from the long trip to Port of Spain except for a 4-0 defeat by Eastern Boys’ Government in one of yesterday’s Atlantic National Primary Schools Football League Boys under-15 semi-finals, played on the training field of the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain.
Eastern now earn a trip to the stadium itself for Wednesday’s grand final, where they will meet the winners between Whim Anglican and Arima Boys, who had their Tobago semi-final delayed because of a waterlogged Shaw Park yesterday. Next Wednesday, the Boys Under-11 and Girls Open final will also be played at the stadium, starting at 10 a.m.
Yesterday, Eastern Boys followed up a 6-0 quarter-final victory over Vos Government (South) with a similarly one-sided win over Valencia, their opponents managing just one shot on goal when their best player Keegan Faria forced Eastern goalie Jabarry Worrell to concede a corner with a shot from almost the corner flag. Otherwise, Eastern were the more football-savvy team, with players who certainly knew how to play.
The Port of Spain champions dominated the encounter. This may finally be Eastern’s time to win the national title since they have grown steadily over the last six years. For the first four of those years, they were knocked out by champions Carenage Boys, twice in the Port of Spain semi-final and later twice in the finals. But, in the last two years, Eastern have emerged as Port of Spain champions.
“This is the first time we are in the national finals and I think our chances of winning it are good because the boys have been playing very well,” stated Kenneth O’Brien, who has coached the Eastern team for seven years. “This season we have 14 players who play in the (Oasis Youth) Pro League, and some of the boys have been together since Under-10 in the Republic Youth League. That is our strength.”
When Eastern won a free kick ten minutes into yesterday’s final, coach O’Brien’s instruction to playmaker Kioane Lewis was to just chip the ball over the wall. “I want to try him (the goalkeeper), Lewis told his coach, and he did.
From atop the penalty area, Lewis aimed and found the far top corner, the ball sailing over goalkeeper Kelvegn Celestine for the opening goal in the tenth minute. The son of Keisha Oliver and Robert Lewis, 13-year-old Kioane Lewis lives at Piccadilly Street, East Dry River. He is immensely talented with a football, but needs to brush up on his schoolwork.
“He’s been playing since he was five years old,” said his father, Robert. “I wish he could get some kind of exposure so that he could make it.”
Eastern though were no one-man show. Jameem Cudjoe was a constant attacking threat, while a physically big Jerome Hughes broke up almost everything Valencia tried to start in the middle of the field.
Eastern went into a 2-0 lead in the 29th minute through Giovanni Gordon, who met Lewis’s through ball and hit across the keeper. Diminutive, but skilled number ten Jahik James then scored twice in the second half. First, James finished from the top of the penalty area from a quick counter-attack and then touched home a corner kick from close-up to make it 4-0 in the 64th minute.
Meanwhile, Moruga RC Girls dethroned Longdenville Primary in the Girls Open semi-finals and now face Tobago’s Mason Hall in the final.
Moruga beat defending champions Longdenville 2-0 in the semi-finals at Guarracara Park, Pointe-a-Pierre, on Wednesday. Longdenville won the 2012 title in Tobago last year when they beat home team Pentecostal Light and Life by a 1-0 margin. Mason Hall Government whipped Vos Government 4-0 in the other semi-final at the Hasely Crawford Stadium. And Tunapuna Boys’ RC and San Fernando Boys RC qualified for the Boys Under -11 finals.
ATLANTIC PRIMARY SCHOOL FOOTBALL RESULTS
Yesterday
Boys Under -15 semi-finals
• Whim Anglican vs Arima Boys RC - (postponed)
• Eastern Boys Government 4 Valencia RC 0
Wednesday
Girls Open semi-finals
• Mason Hall Government 4 Vos Government 0
• Moruga RC 2 Longdenville Government 0
Tuesday
Boys Under 11 semi-finals
• Tunapuna Boys RC 3 Sacred Boys RC 1
• San Fernando Boys RC 2 Carapichaima RC 1
PHOTO: -Eastern on top: Eastern Boys’ midfielder Kioane Lewis, left, takes on Valencia Government central defender Jacob Wilson. Eastern Boys’ Government won the Atlantic National Primary Schools Football League Boys Under-15 semi-final 4-0 yesterday on the training ground at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Port of Spain. —Photo: Ian Prescott....