STGC highlight schoolboy football awards ceremony

BY DANIA BOGLE Observer staff reporter

Thursday, February 09, 2012

TRIPLE crown champions St George's College walked away with the lion's share of prizes at the awards ceremony of the 2011 ISSA Gatorade/Digicel Schoolboy Football season at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel, yesterday.

STGC earned $355,000 in cash and a computer set for winning the Manning Cup ($175,000) and Olivier Shield ($180,000) as well as claiming the Walker Cup Knockout.

The team was also named Most Defensive in the urban area competition, having only five goals scored against them all season, while team member Adrian Graham was named Most Valuable Player for the Manning Cup and Kendon Anderson won the Manning Cup Golden Boot Award for scoring five goals in the second round.

Head coach Neville 'Bertis' Bell said that this was perhaps his best season ever as a schoolboy football coach, adding that despite taking triple titles, the Manning Cup competition holds a special place in his heart.

"We had a pretty decent team. We're very happy. It was a good season for us. Manning Cup is not an easy competition to win. It was a dream season. It was the best schoolboy season I've ever had. It was the first I've gone through the season unbeaten, so I thank the guys and the support staff that was the real reason it happened," he said.

Rusea's also earned $175,000 and a computer for taking the daCosta Cup crown, although their coach Anthony 'Follies' Williams was a little less happy with having to play the rural area final and the All-Island Olivier Shield final so close together.

"I think the organisers (ISSA) need to review the time between the daCosta Cup final and the Olivier Shield final. Possibly they could look at playing a one-off game and look at it as somebody winning," he said.

Rusea's were the Most Attacking team in the daCosta Cup, having scored 92 goals, while team member Bryan Brown earned the most individual prizes.

The player, now on a trial stint in England, won the awards for scoring most goals in the daCosta Cup (24), Golden Boot for most goals in the second round (14), and was named Most Valuable Player in the rural area competition.

Meanwhile, runners-up Charlie Smith in the Manning and STETHS in the daCosta Cup received $75,000 and 22 medals each from sponsors Gatorade.

Charlie Smith with 56 goals was the Most Attacking Team in the urban league, while Michaelas Martin of Charlie Smith received awards for the most goals scored throughout the competition with 19. STETHS were the most Defensive daCosta Cup team having seven goals scored against them.

Grange Hill of Westmoreland earned a computer for being the Most Disciplined Team with 147 points with points being allotted for punctuality, spectator conduct, ground preparation, sportsmanship, and dress and deducted for red cards and yellow cards earned.

Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) president Dr Walton Small termed this season's renewal "a year we could be very, very proud of the behaviour of players as well as spectators", and he told the Observer that the association was proud of some of the adjustments made to ease the pressure on the boys.

"One of the things we did was to look at the zoning of the teams and to expand the zones and by putting another zone, what we did was to reduce the amount of playing time and increase the amount of rest time to the point that this year the coaches were saying that the boys were off for too long."

That expansion applied to the Manning Cup last season and Small said they would be looking to make similar changes to the daCosta Cup at the start of next season.

Forty one teams competed in the Manning Cup in seven zones, while 78 teams divided into 12 zones contested the daCosta Cup.

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STGC highlight schoolboy football awards ceremony