Weekend Football Takes Center Stage in Sports Monday
Goodnight and welcome to another edition of Sports Monday, I am Paul Lopez. High school football is alive and our high school athletes are doing well. On Sunday, the Central Secondary School Sports Association hosted its Football Semi-Finals inside the Marion Jones Sporting Complex. Four female and four male teams made it to this round in the competition. From those teams, the top two from each category are going to the finals.
Paul Lopez, Reporting
Saint John’s College went up against Wesley College for a place in the finals. The whistle is blown to start the match and immediately there is a kick to the goal by Wesley. The goalkeeper times the bounce and he is fouled. Still early in the match, a foul kick for SJC goes straight into the hands of Wesley’s goalkeeper. After the first forty-five minutes of regular time, the half ended with no goals scored. But, it was fireworks in the second half, starting with a first goal at the fifty-ninth minute from Wesley’s Giliyjon Nunez, putting it away over the goalkeeper’s head. Nine minutes later, it’s Nunez again, displaying superb offense, maintaining control of the ball and putting that one in. That’s two for Wesley College. Less than a minute later, SJC responded with an absolutely precise header from Avery Vassel. With twenty minutes of playtime left, Wesley’s Andrew Moses at the right corner, beats the defender and walks the ball to the goal. Wesley College advances to the finals where they will face Gwen Lizarraga High School. These high schools also dominated in the female category.
There isn’t a shortage of talent on display in the William Dawson Peace Cup. The third week of the tournament kicked off on Saturday morning inside the MCC Grounds. Here are highlights from the second match of the day between Survivors FC and Westlake FC. Spoiler, this one ended in a draw. One minute into this football match between Survivors FC and Westlake, Michael Hernandez is quick on his feet in front of the goal, giving Westlake FC an early lead. At the twenty-fifth minute, Survivors FC’s Alton Carr lets off this beautiful spot kick from beyond the penalty box that finds its way past the goalkeeper and into the upper right corner, tying the match.
Two minutes later, Carr remerges and once again outplaces the goalkeeper with a lobbed ball over his head, taking the lead. Westlake FC wasted no time in the second half of the match to score their second goal. Survivor’s Keron Sutherland, off the pass, finds enough space in front of the goal to launch a rocket over the keeper’s head, giving his team the lead once more. It took Westlake only nine minutes after that goal to respond with this breakaway from Keffer Pertau to tie the game at three goals apiece. And, that is how that one ended.
The Belize Elite Basketball League is in the second week of its 2024 season. Three games were played over the weekend. In the Old Capital, the Belize City Defenders took on San Pedro Tiger Shark in an overtime thriller. Here is more from that match.
The Belize City Civic Center came alive for the second Friday night in a row as the Belize City Defenders made its debut in the BEBL’s 2024 season. They took on the three-time champions, the San Pedro Tiger Sharks. Early in the first quarter, Mark Levi gets the easy bucket under the rim for the Sharks. Lorenzo Dillard at the three point line, off the assist from Devin Daly, makes it count. Defenders down by five, Nigel Jones puts it up from on top of the arc to cut the lead to two. Eight-forty to go in the second quarter, the Sharks up by seven points and Bobby Williams extends the lead with a three pointer. Devin Daly to D’Von Campbell, he puts it up and makes it count.
Fourth quarter, five half minutes on the game clock, Richard Smith the third from the outside extends the Defender’s lead by three points. The Tiger Sharks are up by two, with eight seconds left in regular time. Defender’s D’Von Campbell has the ball. Smith the third misses the three-point attempt, but John Kelly is at the rim to clean up, sending this one into overtime. Defenders once again down with twenty seconds in overtime. Campbell finds Jones wide open at the three point line. He fakes the defender, gets a good look and scores the decisive bucket of the game to give his team the win.
Well folks, that is all we have for you in tonight’s coverage of Sports Monday. Catch you in the next one.
