Friday, December 19, 2008 Don Bosco XI silver medal lone Neg. Occ . feat in 3rd nat'l POF By Henry C. Villalva
THE silver medal finish of Don Bosco Technical Institute-Negros Occidental's Under-15 football squad is the lone record tallied by a Negrense team in the just-concluded 3rd Philippine Olympic Festival (POF) national championships held last Dec. 11-16 in Cagayan de Oro City.
Other Negros Occidental squads as well as individual athletes who topped their respective disciplines at the last Visayas qualifying games held in Dumaguete City opted not to participate in the national POF competition due to a conflict in playing dates with the 2008 Neg. Occ. Palarong Panlalawigan.
Among the medal potential teams who failed to compete in the national POF event is the Domingo Lacson National High School girls' softball squad mentored by multi-titled Palarong Pambansa coach Tony Oquindo.
The Don Bosco booters, mentored by Warren Concepcion, drew with eventual champion Cebu City, 1-1, in the final match but lost the title owing to an inferior overall win-loss record.
The Negrenses drubbed Bukidnon, 7-0, in their opening match then drew with Zamboanga, 2-2, before demolishing North Cotabato, 10-0, in the semis en route to their championship clash against Cebu City.
Laguna topped the overall medal tally with 57 golds, 25 silvers and 36 bronze medals drawing strength from the 25-gold harvest in medal-rich swimming and another 12 in centerpiece aquatics to virtually stamp its class in the meet that the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) uses as its talent identification and sports development program.
General Santos City finished second with an overall medal tally of 46-30-29 followed by Zamboanga City (40-26-25) in third place and Baguio City in fourth with a 38-40-40 collection.
Iloilo was the only Western Visayas contingent to finish in the top 10 by virtue of its 24-5-13, gold-silver-bronze medal finish.
Meanwhile, the Don Bosco-Neg. Occ. football squad arrived Thursday afternoon at Banago port via Negros Navigation. The team is composed of DBTI's Jeremy diadio, Marvic Gancita, Allen Shane Delera, John Kid Delgira, Sydney Angelo Magbanua, Victor Magbanua, Juan Paolo Retirado, Adrian Antonio Pagayanan, Christian Paul Jover, Jose Francisco Dofitas and Melencio Mentor; Ryunell Fegidero and Joel Villacoer of West Negros University; Rolie Tacugie and Jhoguev Ybaņez of Julio Ledesma National High School, San Carlos City; Kent Guevarra of Ramon Torres National High School, Bago City; Mark Laguardilla of Doņa Hortensia Salas Benedicto National High School, La Carlota City, and Belmark Ortega of Bacolod City National High School.
Other team officials are assistant coaches Philip Apacible and Bro. Yulius Noa; team manager Bro. Manny Gacayan; and team administrator Fr. Norman Broderick Segovia.
