James Adderley with the latest in sporting news

James Adderley

Good evening I’m James Adderley and this is Sports Monday.

The Belize City first division football competition for the Smart Challenge Cup has moved into the second round. So we took in Saturday’s matchup between Kraal Road and BWEL Jaguars inside the M.C.C. Grounds. The first real threat at g

oal comes from the Jaguars when Ernest Flores beats the keeper to this ball but he fails to maximize this effort. Kraal Road responds with this individual thrust by Raymond Gentle which culminates with a potent left foot launch that screams over the crossbar. We’re twenty-nine minutes in when poor defense gifts this ball to Dalton Zuniga who stays with it to give Kraal Road a 1-zip lead. A few minutes later Zuniga gets another look at goal but watch Daniel Hernandez thwart this attempt to score by pulling at the strikers top for which the Jaguars get booked a penalty and Hernandez is lucky not to have been given a straight red card. Jack Dawson steps up for Kraal Road and powers his team to a 2-zip lead at the thirty-sixth minute. A few minutes later, Raymond Gentle presses to get his name  on the scoreboard only to be failed by a heroic one hand save from Anael Lopez and at the half Kraal Road is in command.

Folks, eleven minutes inside second half, Ernest Flores is taken down from behind inside the eighteen by Godson Mitchell and the Jaguars are awarded a penalty kick. Daniel Hernandez gets the call and he pulls one back to make it a 2-1 ballgame, which makes things interesting. Folks, maybe life is indeed stranger than fiction because Ernest Flores does everything right here only to be denied by the far upright. So instead of having two goals this player has none to show. Kraal Road now tries to seal the win on this press but Eric Gilharry lets loose a high riser. In the meantime, we have a word of advice for Jack Dawson on this move, be quick but don’t hurry, as he squanders this golden opportunity. Nevertheless, Kraal Road shuts the door on the Jaguars with this nice display of skill by at the eighty-first minute as he beats Anael Lopez to score into an empty net. Kraal Road goes on to record the 3-1 big W.

In other weekend results, Brown Bombers handled Atlantic Insurance 2-1 while Vin Fa FC and Rangers FC battled to a three all stalemate. In over thirty-five results from weekend play, it was City Stars 3, Northside zip and Kulture Yabra got over Plaza by that very same score.

Changing gears people, the boat racing season is into full swing and we’re inside the Boom River for the start of yesterday’s big canoe race for from Burrell Boom to Manatee Lookout on the Northern Highway with nineteen vessels in the hunt. Immediately, Caribbean Pride establishes itself as the team to beat today, but not without a challenge from the Belize Bank and Discovery Expeditions. Now let’s transition to the finish line at Manatee Lookout. We find Justin Sanchez, Jermaine Sanchez and Chris Guidis working in perfect harmony to keep the CPBL canoe in the lead and in fact, claim first prize. Meanwhile, the battle for second place provides excitement. The Belize Bank is challenged on the outside by Discovery Expedition, but the bank goes to its vast reserves to up the ante and grab the runner up spot, while Discovery has to settle for third place. And here’s Reagan making haste to take fourth. Of course, we must give kudos to the Rob Angels for becoming the first all female team to cross the finish line today.

Now let’s head to terra firma and we are in front of the Social Security Building in Santa Elena as forty-two riders are in the hunt to win today’s forty mile race for the elder statesmen of cycling. At the turn around point, the pelathon remains more or less intact as they head towards the finish line up Cement Hill inside San Ignacio. We meet Jose Moguel grabbing this premie at Mount Hope on the way to the finish line. At the finish line it’s Santino Castillo of Truckers Posse making the arduous climb as he grabs a second win in two weeks. Derek Smith of Pediatric pulls up second, Andrew Ordonez of Fabrigas is third, Geoffrey Waight fourth, while Lennox Bowman rounds out the top five. In the meantime, the Weekend Warrior series gets underway in earnest on February seventh so stay tuned.

In other cycling news, Byron Pope won Saturday’s fifty-two miles race in 02:00:08 beating out Gregory Lovell, Christian McNish, Brandon Cattouse and Junior rider Deazan Spence in that order respectively. Of course, Deazan Spence took the junior class, Brandon Cattouse won the category three and Sherman Thomas beat out Kenneth Butler in the master class. Finally folks, the poor and famous first annual beach cruiser race featured some nine riders at the start and here are the three winners. Alrick Lam took the win, Kevin Tzul finished second and Jermaine Wagner pulled up third with prizes provided by the Salvation Army, Hungry Monkey, Old Belize and Cellular World. You can contact this organization at http://www.poorandfamous.bz.

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.