PFL Playoffs: Final and Third-Place review

The conclusion to the tenth CUC Primary Football League (PFL) season this past Saturday at the Annex Field was a fabulous display of exhilarating youth football with four finals and two third-place games.

The six games were very evenly contested with the two Under 9 finals and third-place game going to overtime and penalties and both Under 11 finals and the third-place game finishing by a single-goal margin.

Under 9 Champions Cup Final:
In the Under 9 Champions Cup final, Cayman Prep was seeking its second straight Under 9 league title against Sir John A. Cumber Primary.

Cayman Prep’s Tom Byrne opened the scoring in the 15th minute but the constant running of Sir John
A. Cumber Primary’s striker Drequan Kirchman finally paid off as he equalised for his school in the
32nd minute.

During extra time, both schools could not find a winner so it was on to penalties.

With both schools missing two of their three allotted penalties, the 2014/2015 Under 9 championship would be decided by sudden death penalties. Each school scored their first sudden death penalty but Sir John A. Cumber Primary’s second penalty taker blazed his effort over the bar. Cayman Prep’s standout defender Jonathan Scott made no mistake with his effort and Cayman Prep retained its second Under 9 league title in a row by a score of 4-3.

Because of his consistent play and leadership in the defence during the final and for his championship winning penalty, Cayman Prep’s Jonathan Scott was awarded The Gerome Graham Memorial Award for the Most Valuable Player in the Under 9 Champions Cup final.

He was presented with the award by Gerome’s brother Kareem James from Bodden Town FC during the Under 9 trophy presentation immediately following the final.

Under 9 Champions Cup Third-Place:
In the Under 9 Champions Cup third-place game, Red Bay Primary found themselves 2-0 down to Savannah Primary thanks to goals from Immanuel Duran in the 21st and 40th minutes only to equalise in the dying minutes of the game with strikes from Domenique Ebanks in the 45th minute and Isaac Peart in the 46th minute.

Although inspired by the comeback, the boys from Red Bay could not find a winner in extra time as Savannah Primary added two more goals from Josh Gordon in the 4th minute and Jacquan Wray’s penalty in the 8th minute of extra time to end the scoring at 4-2 and secure the third-place trophy.

Under 9 Consolation Cup Final:
In the Under 9 Consolation Cup final, Truth For Youth’s Tyreese Denton scored in the final few minutes of regulation time to cancel out South Sound School’s opening goal, which was scored by Brandon Lee. Both schools could not find that elusive winner in extra time so penalties would decide this first final of the day.

South Sound School’s two misses in the penalty shootout against Truth For Youth’s single miss meant the title went to Truth For Youth and their jubilant supporters by a score of 3-2.

Under 11 Champions Cup Final:
In the Under 11 Champions Cup final, Red Bay Primary secured its first Under 11 league title in over
15 years and ended Cayman Prep’s dream of securing a record third straight Under 11 championship.

The two schools from Group B had remained undefeated during the regular season and into the Playoffs with their lone encounter ending in a 1-1 draw on the last day of the regular season in November.

With a large crowd in attendance, Red Bay Primary poured into the attack with Alejandro Holness and Elder Ebanks leading the charge. The game plan paid off as Red Bay Primary scored two goals in quick succession with Alejandro Holness and Elder Ebanks grabbing one each.

Not to be outdone, Cayman Prep’s Nick McCallum reduced the deficit to one just before the halftime whistle as he shot past Dru McLaughlin in the Red Bay goal after a mesmerising solo run down the left flank.

During the first half, Cayman Prep’s potent attack had been somewhat stymied thanks to some excellent defending by the Red Bay Primary rear guard, especially by Deshane Vousden, who had been assigned the task of neutralising Prep’s talismanic Joshua Small.

The second half was a different story as Cayman Prep surged forward only to be thwarted by the Red
Bay post on two occasions and the cross bar once.

Red Bay’s goal scorer Elder Ebanks spent the last 10 minutes of the game in goal as his regular goalkeeper Dru McLaughlin had to leave the field after an accidently collision with a Cayman Prep player.

Red Bay dug deep and defended voraciously as Cayman Prep could not find the equaliser. David Brooks and Nathan Ebanks excelled in defence. At the sound of the final whistle, the boys in maroon and black were swarmed by supporters, teaches, school mates and coaches – they had done it.

For his play during the final, Red Bay’s Elder Ebanks was awarded The Justin Henry Memorial Award for the Most Valuable Player in the Under 11 final by Justin’s mother Lisa Henry.

Under 11 Champions Cup Third-Place:
In the Under 11 Champions Cup third place game, Savannah Primary defeated St. Ignatius Prep 3-2 with goals from Antoine Rockett, Akiel Bodden and Javan Clarke. St. Ignatius’s scorers were Daniel Rivers and Matthew Lloyd-Hickey.

Under 11 Consolation Cup Final:
In the Under 11 Consolation Cup final, seven-year old substitute Danny Lyne from Cayman International School secured a 1-0 victory for his school in the 50th minute against South Sound Schools after being on the field for only two minutes.

This evenly contested final produced very few goal-scoring opportunities for both schools with Cayman International School’s Jonathan Rado heading against the bar twice – once when his school was on the attack and the other when he was attempting a clearance from a South Sound School corner.

Special thanks to officials Chastine Rankine and Dwayne Ebanks for officiating the day’s games and to George Town Primary’s Principal Marie Martin for presenting the trophies. Thanks also to Lisa Henry and Kareem James for presenting the two Most Valuable Player Awards in memory of Justin Henry and Gerome Graham.

What spectators witnessed during the final day of the 2014/2015 CUC PFL Playoffs will be remembered for a very long time to come.