Wolmer’s on the double with U-14, U-16 titles
WOLMER’S Boys secured the ISSA/Busta Urban Area Under-16 (Colts) and Under-14 (Pepsi) football titles after victories over St Jago and St George’s, respectively, at Campion College yesterday.
The Heroes Circle-based school avenged their preliminary round defeat to St Jago, with a 2-0 win over their opponents for the Colts title, while in the Under-14 edition, the maroon and gold-clad Wolmer’s scored five unanswered goals against St George’s College to retain their title.
In the feature game, Wolmer’s took the lead in the first-half through Manning Cup star Jaheel Hyde, who outpaced his marker before unleashing a thunderbolt past Vaughn Lawrence in the St Jago goal.
St Jago should have gone in at the break at least on level terms as they wasted some good opportunities, especially from set-plays, with one effort rattling the bar midway the half.
However, seven minutes after the break, Wolmer’s doubled their lead when Chadwick Clough was pulled down inside the penalty box by Akeem McKoy, and Khori Bennet made no mistake from the spot.
St Jago had a great chance to pull a goal back after their relentless pressure resulted in them winning a penalty six minutes from the end (74th).
However, goalkeeper Shamari Jemison denied Andrew Daley from 12 yards.
Wolmer’s coach Michael Francis said although St Jago beat them in the preliminary round, they knew they had a stronger side to face them this time.
“Today we exploited the weakness of the St Jago team… we pressed them early and got the early goal,” he said.
His counterpart Keith McTavis said his team did everything right except score.
“The boys gave a good account of themselves, but we just did not get the ball into the net,” he stated.
In the Under-14 final, Wolmer’s jumped into an early lead through Chadon Davis’s fourth minute strike.
Paul Young then made it 2-0 in the 27th minute with a powerful free-kick from 35 yards out, as Wolmer’s went into the break with a 2-0 lead.
Ten minutes before the end (60th) Odane Williams fired home a free-kick from the edge of the box, then substitute Blake Spence (66th & 69th) scored in the last five minutes to seal the win for the Noel Smith-coached team.
“I told my team that we have played 20 games without losing and St George’s are also unbeaten. But based on our early round results I knew we were three goals better than them, so I expected nothing less than a 3-0 victory,” he said.
Wolmer’s will now turn their attention to the all-island finals for both tournaments.
