Sport
U-14 League: Academy battersNaya
Left: Justin Rankinone of Academy's strikers dribbles by a Naya player in last Friday'smatch.
Right: Academy's U-14 team.
Academy 7
Naya 1
Academy gave Naya a 7-1 thrashing on Fridayat the George Hicks High School field in the U-14 football league.
It did not take long before Academy dishedout the first goal. Joseph Welcome collected a loose ball froma rebound and placed the ball into the back of the net.
Justin Rankin followed up with two moregoals, when he was allowed, on two separate occasions, to havesolo runs into Naya's back third, unchallenged. Rankin made goodof both opportunities, taking the score to 3-0 early in the firsthalf.
Naya did not give into the punishment orthe climbing goal tally. The little guys showed true character.Truth be told, the Academy players appeared to be the older sidewhereas Naya's players were younger and smaller. So it was nota case of Academy having a better skill level; it was just thatthey had a little more experience and heft when their playersblasted the ball.
To make matters worse, Naya assisted Academy,by scoring an own goal when one of their players headed the ballinto the goal.
With the score at 4-0 Naya fought to keepit from climbing, but again they gave in when Thomas Bush receiveda through ball. He then finished his chance firing the ball intothe net.
The scoreline did not stopped Academy andminutes after Stephan Cortell placed the ball into the goal, takingthe score to 6-0.
Nevertheless, Naya was also relentless intheir efforts and tried to capitalize on every chance to score.And they did in the dying minutes of the first half when CarlosEbanks buried the ball into the back of the net.
With the score at 6-1, both teams came outcharging in the second half with Academy's Bush scoring again.
Naya tried to rally back and seemed to douseAcademy efforts for the most of the half. In fact, Naya seemedintent on scoring a second goal and nearly did when they wereawarded a penalty. Matthew Grant rifled a shot, but it hit thecrossbars. With lightening reflexes, he fired the rebounded ball.Again the ball hit the crossbars. Naya's Wade Mitchell jumpedinto the action for for his team, but Mitchell and Academy keepercollided, stopping their attempt on goal.