By:Curtis Morton
It was real excitement at the ET Willett Park on Friday 10th November.
This, as the semifinal matches in the 2017 edition of the Primary Schools’ Football league were held.
A fair sized and vociferous crowd was on hand to witness the games first hand and even the odd showers, did not serve to dampen their spirits.
In game one, last year’s runners up, St. Thomas’ Primary, engaged the vastly improved Elizabeth Pemberton Primary School.
Both teams held their own, up to the half time whistle and there was the thought process that the game would be resolved by penalty kicks.
However, whatever was said to the St. Thomas’ Primary boys at half time, worked immense wonders. They came out with a new zeal and zest and scored, not once but three times, much to the jubilation of their fan base.
One of those goals was scored by their exciting new addition on their forward lines, eight year old Mexican national, Sebastain Le Mentec Ibarra.
Maybe that is one name we should all write down for future reference.
Game two, created similar excitement, as defending champs, Ivor Walters Primary, engaged the former multiple times champs, Charlestown Primary.
The CPS team had appeared lackluster in their previous game versus the Nevis Academy team but not so on this day.
There was an urgency about their early exchanges and they missed a few chances to score.
By the end of regulation time, the game was interestingly poised at 1goal-all.
The teams then went to the penalty spot. Shockingly, neither of the teams seemed to have prepared well for this eventuality and many of the attempts, went wide of the mark or way over the cross bar.
However, Charlestown Primary sunk the first goal and with one more attempt remaining, three of the Ivor Walters players were seen kneeling in prayer.
Their prayer was answered, as their team mate converted.
In the ‘sudden death’ attempts, both goal keepers excelled but it was the Ivor Walters team that converted yet again to secure a heart stuttering win for them with a penalty score line of 2 to 1.
What a game!
The grand finale is now set for Friday 17th November at the ET Willett Park and kick off time is set for 3 pm sharp.
A bumper crowd is expected to witness this encounter.
Summary of semi finals
Game 1
St. Thomas’ Primary 3 Elizabeth Pemberton 0
Scoring for St. Thomas Primary
Tahmarley Wilkinson (20th & 29th min)
Sebastain Le Mentec Ibarra (30th min)
Game 2
Charlestown Primary 1 vs 1 Ivor Walters Primary
Ivor Walters won (2 – 1) on Kicks from the penalty mark
Scoring for Charlestown Primary
Prince Daniel (4th min)
Scoring for Ivor Walters Primary
Jahmal Lewis (11th min)
Primary School Football Top Goal Scorers
Jahmal Lewis –IWPS-6 goals
Prince Daniel CPS-5 goals
Romario Morgan-EPPS- 4 goals
Jaheem Hazel-EPPS- 2 goals
Sebastain Le Mentec Ibarra STPS 2 goals
Tahmarley Wilkinson-STPS- 2 goals