St. George’s High successfully retained their Georgetown zone championship, squeaking past heavyweights Chase Academy when the Georgetown zone of the Digicel Secondary Schools u-18 football tourney concluded yesterday.
Hosted at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) ground, the Church Street unit clinched their second successive title as they prevailed by a 4-2 score line on penalty kicks after normal time finished with the scores locked at 0-0.
Orin Moore netted the opener in the penalty shoot-out to give St. Georges the lead. Kareem Knights would level for Chase Academy as he netted their first attempt. St. Georges would then fail in their second attempt as Adolph George missed from the mark.
However Chase Academy would fail to capitalise on St. George’s misfortune as Shamar Barrow missed from the mark.
The score line would then become 2-2 in the third round as both sides scored from the mark with Okeri Codrington netting for the defending champs and Ozeal Small scoring for the challengers.
It would then become 3-2 in the favour of St. George’s in the fourth round as Quincy Lawrence netted for the St. George’s while Chase Academy’s Jamal Scott missed his attempt. The win would then be sealed on the fifth attempt as Royston Dublin buried his penalty kick to ignite the celebrations.
Winning coach, Yannick Butler during an invited comment said “The game was very intense, we were looking forward to very tough and hard game because I know the opposing team, their players and what they could bring to the table”.
He further said “I worked hard with my guys. I did some backboard work, sit and talk over with them so they can know how serious it is because it’s not like the other four teams that we have beaten”.
“It’s a much more developed and stronger team. I knew the game would be tense, I just kept encouraging my boys from the sidelines to mark and play their positions”, added Butler.
With the victory, St. George’s High walked away with the championship trophy, first place medals, team uniforms, football equipment and $100,000 towards the funding of any school project.
They also earned the opportunity to represent their conference at the national edition of the event. Chase Academy for their efforts walked away with the second place trophy and the corresponding medals.
