Valley Renaissance wins Super League
Good evening, I’m James Adderley with this week’s rush of Sport Monday and by now you must have heard that Valley Renaissance is the boss. So let’s head to the M.C.C. Grounds where the decision game three of the Belize Bank Super League Championship series attracted a massive crowd to that vaunted venue yesterday as the defending champion, Texmar Boys tried to fend off a serious challenge for supremacy in this football league from an ever surging Valley Renaissance. Knowing the winner walks away with twenty-five thousand dollars today, John King tries to give Texmar Boys the early lead with this attack from off the right wing but today goalkeeper Woodrow West has brought out his A-game. The defending champion continues to press, switching to the left side as Palacio frees up Ashley Torres, whose powerful left foot launch screams over the crossbar. We’re some thirty minutes into the action when Marcel Garbutt of Texmar Boys finally gets a house call and it comes off this set piece that sees Harrison Tasher go acrobatic for the goal, which is failed only by the goalkeeper’s very last touch. At the other end, Ashley Torres gets another look at goal and again he can’t deliver the goodies. Nevertheless, Texmar insist and indeed Gilmore Palacio’s first touch on this chest kill allows Kenroy Arthurs to snatch away the opportunity to score. So Palacio tries to make amends with this offering and this time the stop comes from Mr. West himself. Like they say, football is a game of inches and on this set from Jeovannie Reyes, Arnold Torres comes up short.
Folks, we’re some five minutes into second half action when Kenroy Authors spots Garbutt poorly positioned in goal and drops this ball over his head to give Valley Renaissance the 1-zip lead. It’s a pumped up Valley team now as they look to double the lead but Harrison Tasher doesn’t put enough on the strike allowing the defense to come up with a scrambled clearance. For Texmar, the dream is fading fast, so Norman “Tilliman” Nunez tries to guide this spot kick into the far corner. Like we said earlier, Woodrow West brings his A-game today people. It’s another set piece launch for the wily veteran Norman “Tilliman” Nunez and this time the save by the might West is more spectacular. The pressure mounted by the defending champion is now relentless and the Valley is on the back foot when Nunez fires this bomb directly at the keeper. Nunez then sails this spot kick into the damper zone. The leader from Torres is re-directed by Robert Muschamp and again, West shines. Of course, every student of the game should know that when you send numbers forward you create holes in the defense. Tasher finds Alexander Peters who sets table for Leonard Valdez, fresh off the bench, who needs two tries to beat Garbutt. As he gives Valley Renaissance to 2-zip lead with some fifteen minutes to the long whistles. And when it does comes, Valley Renaissance has become the Super League Champion in 2009 with the 2-zip big W in game three. They walk away with the prestigious Belize Branch trophy and of course, the twenty-five thousand prize money. But more importantly they’ve lived up to their name, which translates into the rebirth of prime time football in the Stann Creek Valley. Sports Monday says good show.
Karim Peters, Valley Renaissance
“We just come with one mind fi win overtime because the first two game—we could ah mi done got it eena di first one but den weh happen pan di end ah di day, check dah just dat. Ih turn out fi be draw and den coming on to second into penalty and third game we seh we noh wah mek ih happen like dat again.”
Turning to the female football scene Millennium Girls of Belize City took on the B.D.F. Team at the M.C.C. Grounds on Saturday to kick off the new season and we applaud each and every player who suited up for the occasion. It’s the B.D.F. off the quick start as Tracy White launches the left foot easily corralled by Ermine Ferguson. At the other end, Shanelle Gentle beats the defense, survives a push from behind and then sends a right foot that leads rebounds off the keeper Donna Grant. Shanelle Gentle then tries to lift this ball over Grant’s head but it also sails over the horizontal bar. In second half, it’s Gentle again on the attack and again she fails to hit the target. Meanwhile at the other end Gloria Chun out runs the defense only to be robbed by the goalkeeper Ermine Ferguson. Nevertheless, she makes amends when Chun finds herself at the right place at the right time to give the B.D.F. a 1-zip lead. The Millennium Girls respond immediately as Shanelle Gentles beats the B.D.F. defense to tie the score at one apiece. Nevertheless, the game winner comes from this defensive error that gives number nine, Cindy Fuentes possession and she makes the most of it as the B.D.F. wins the ballgame 2-1.
In basketball news, the inter-office basketball League is set to blast off its 2009 tournament this Friday, April third inside the Civic Center and here’s the League’s director, Ian Mariano with the details.
Ian Mariano, League Director
“This year we have the largest amount of participants ever. Actually, it’s twenty-four teams that have enrolled. First of all, let’s just clear up something that the backboard is here and is being prepared so we’re good to go this Friday evening. It’sgonna start at seven-thirty at the Belize City Center. That’s where we’ll have our opening ceremonies and also the presentation of the twenty-four teams. Also, we’re looking at entertainment in the likeness of Tanya Carter, Mr. Program, Sly Boy Music and that type of thing. We’re trying to create a family oriented environment so that everybody could just come out and enjoy themselves. The old folks reliving their past and the young people you know—it’s a good mixture.”
James Adderley
“In terms of basketball, what level can we envision? Will it be a kin to semi-pro basketball?”
Ian Mariano
“What I can say is that the level is very high, the reason being with the absence of the other leagues in full functioning mode, we have managed to attract more seasoned players while maintaining the focus of what we’re trying to do which is actually giving the office people an opportunity to really have an arena for themselves. But yes, the level has risen definitely this year and we’ve seen where teams have amalgamated to strengthen up and to do that type of thing so yes, the competition is going to be there and it’s going to be an exciting opportunity for the family.”
On the cycling scene, Darnell Barrow of the Santino’s Cycling Team beat out his teammate Gregory Lovell to take Saturday’s fifty-two male race presented by the Belize Cycling Association timed at two hours, four minutes, twenty-four seconds. Byron Pope of the Benny’s Megabytes pulled third, Ernest Meighan took fourth while Edgar Nissan Arana rounds out the top five. Don’t forget the mighty Cross Country comes up on Holy Saturday.
Finally folks, the U.B. Relathon steeped in thirty-one years of tradition was staged yesterday on the Western Highway packaged in a battle of sexes as the female s challenged the males who have won this event seventeen times. The males took off from the San Ignacio Police Station for a seventy mile journey while their female counterparts left the market square at Belmopan to cover some fifty miles. This year it wasn’t even close and it’s not what you expected because it’s the females who took the event in seven hours, eight minutes, twenty-three seconds beating the guys by sixteen minutes, fifty-three seconds flat to move their overall total to twelve wins. Congratulations to the female team who used thirty-two runners to grab the W.
In closing folks, Sports Monday mourns the passing of Rhett Reyes, a true lover of cycling and a good friend and Leslie Cap Middleton who gave much to the football and Dominoes in Belize. We say sleep on.
Hey folks, that’s our show for today. We invite you back same time, same place, next week. Jah over all, I’m James Adderley.
