The International School of Port-of-Spain (ISPS) on Wednesday gave a commanding performance in stopping last year's champion Dunross Preparatory in yesterday's final of the 11 and Under Boys' final in the Sports and Games Port-of-Spain and Environs Primary School Football Final.
Thousands of school children came out to support their schools at the Diego Martin Regional Sporting Complex. The day was worth it, with new champions being crowned in all age groups.
Dunross Prep, which has played unbeaten in the league, could have been one down in the first 40 seconds of the match but its custodian Maddox Selby saved the day.
However, in the fifth minute, Liam Farah put ISPS into the lead. Jose Solman kept pressing the Dunross defence but it wasn't until William Shaw blasted past the Dunross custodian to put their team up 2-0.
ISPS was in the ascendancy and Pernek Walkins added a well-placed side-footer past the keeper to put his team in the cosy position with the score 3-0.
In the second session, ISPS continued to press and got another goal in the 25th minute from Jaxson Rizk, the division's top goalscorer. Not too long after in the 28th minute, Walkins added a second to push the game beyond Dunross. Connor Knaggs got into the scoring zone and he put one away past the Dunross custodian.
In the final two minutes, D'Angelo Sankar pulled one back for Dunross Prep.
At the blast of referee Jerome Walter's whistle, it was all over as ISPS walked away with a fantastic 6-1 victory over Dunross Prep. A game which many expected to be a tie-breaker turned out to be a romp for the 2024 champions ISPS.
In the opening match, the Under-15 final between Nelson Street Boys RC and Belmont Government. Nelson Street Boys, the favourites, were first to strike in the seventh minute through Kayshawn Cox, the top goalscorer in the league.
Nelson Street continued the attack and got their second goal from Isaac Simmons who later won the "Most Valuable Player" award. Isaac repeated the dosage before Belmont Gov't captain Tyrese Pauline scored an excellent free kick to pull one back. The score now 3-1.
On the resumption, Nelson Street went further ahead through Kazim George and that certainly sealed the game.
Pauline doubled up for Belmont but it was Nelson Street Boys winning by a 4-2 margin.
Honour roll
Player of The Year: Pernek Walkins (ISPS)
11 and Under Boys
Top goalscorer: Jaxson Rizk (ISPS)
Most Valuable Player: Pernek Walkins (ISPS)
Final MVP: Connor Knaggs (ISPS)
U-15 Boys
Top goalscorer: Kayshawn Cox (Nelson Street Boys)
Most Valuable Player: Isaac Simmons (Nelson Street Boys)
Final MVP: Isaac Simmons (Nelson Street Boys)
Wednesday's results
Finals:
11 and Under Boys
Dunross Prep 1 (D'Angelo Sankar) vs ISPS 6 (Pernek Walkins 2, Liam Farah, William Shaw, Connor Knaggs, Jaxson Rizk)
Under 15 Boys:
Belmont Gov't 2 (Tyrese Pauline 2) vs Nelson Street Boys RC 4 (Isaac Simmons 2, Kayshawn Cox, Kazim George)
SOURCE: T&T Guardian