Supporters of the beautiful game were treated to a youth football spectacle on Saturday as the semifinals in the CUC Primary Football League took center stage at the TE McField Annex Field.
To add to the excitement, there were plenty of goals, last-minute heroics, brilliant goal keeping and great team camaraderie.
In the Under-9 Consolation Cup, due to a number of unavoidable reasons, George Town Primary’s team was unable to field a full team and had to forfeit their semifinal encounter to Red Bay Primary.
In the second semi, Bodden Town defeated Truth For Youth 2-1 with Jacobi Tugman opening the scoring for the victors in the fifth minute and Breshawn McLean sealing the victory in the 36th minute. Truth For Youth staged a late comeback after Keon Jennings pulled a goal back in the 43rd minute but they left it too late and ultimately ran out of time.
In the U-9 Consolation Cup final, defending champions Bodden Town will face Red Bay.
Defending Under 9 champions Savannah Primary secured their place in the final after overcoming St. Ignatius Prep 3-0 thanks to a brace by Jacquan Wray and a Dylan Hernandez strike.
Savannah will face Cayman Prep in the final for the second year running after the Prep boys came from behind to defeat Sir John A. Cumber Primary 2-1.
Shaunjay Bodden opened the scoring in the 29th minute for Sir John A. Cumber, capping off a great run with a sublime finish only to see Tom Byrne equalize two minutes later and then secure the victory five minutes later in the 36th minute with his second strike of the game.
In the U-9 Champions Cup final, Savannah Primary will play Cayman Prep in a repeat of last year’s final and Sir John A. Cumber will take on St. Ignatius Prep in the third-place game.
In the U-11 Consolation Cup semis, Truth For Youth avenged their U-9 team’s loss to Bodden Town with a 4-2 victory with Kenneth Challenger grabbing two goals in the 18th and 41st minutes and Oscar Hernandez securing the win in the 21st and 55th minutes.
Bodden Town’s U-9 hero Jacobi Tugman kept it interesting with two goals in the 56th and 61st minutes, the latter from the penalty spot, but it was too little, too late.
In the second semi, Red Bay secured a place in the final following their enthralling 4-3 victory over a spirited Cayman International School side.
Red Bay’s Brad Lansdell scored a hat-trick, adding to Alejandro Holness’s penalty to secure the victory for his new school.
Cayman International fought valiantly and came from 2-0 down and 3-2 down to almost take the game into overtime before Lansdell settled this exciting encounter in the final minute. Cayman International’s Jonathan Rado (2) and Francisco Magno scored their team’s goals.
In the U-11 Consolation Cup final, Truth For Youth take on Red Bay Primary.
Defending U-11 champions Cayman Prep were in top form for the second week running with a comfortable 5-0 win over South Sound Schools in the first semi. Igor Magalhaes, Max Palmer, Victor Thompson and Harrison Hew added to an own goal to complete the scoring.
In the second semifinal, Sir John A. Cumber and St. Ignatius battled for 80 minutes through regulation time and overtime without anyone scoring.
Sir John A. Cumber’s Omar Bodden and St. Ignatius’s Kai Dobbin were exceptional between the posts with both youngsters making some key saves throughout.
Ironically, it would be up to one of these fine young players to decide this encounter as the game moved into penalties.
St. Ignatius’s Jonah Sigsworth and Corey Smith made no mistake with their penalties but Omar Bodden turned away Daniel Rivers’s effort.
Likewise, Daniel Wallace and Jahrion Bodden scored for Sir John A. Cumber but Kai Dobben thwarted Rashaad Powery’s attempt and the score after the penalty shootout remained a tie at 2-2.
Onto sudden death penalties and Liam Walton from St. Ignatius Prep made no mistake, to put his school in front.
Up stepped Malik Gordon for Sir John A. Cumber but found Kai Dobbin up to the task as he pushed his effort over the bar, much to the delight of his ecstatic teammates. St. Ignatius had survived, winning 3-2.
In this weekend’s final, St. Ignatius Prep will face defending champions Cayman Prep in the U-11 Champions Cup and Sir John A. Cumber Primary will play South Sound Schools for third place.
CUC organizer Neil Murray said, “As always, special thanks to the officials Shakur Welcome and Chastine Rankine and to sponsors Progressive Distributors.”
The finals, third-placed games and trophy presentations for the 2013/14 CUC Primary Football League playoffs are on this Saturday, Jan. 25 beginning at 9 a.m. at the TE McField Annex Field.
In the Under-9 Consolation Cup, due to a number of unavoidable reasons, George Town Primary was unable to field a full team and therefore had to forfeit their semi-final encounter to Red Bay Primary.
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