AFTER a draw and a loss in its first two games, the University of San Carlos-Basic Education Department (USC-Bed) finally played to its potential as it beat defending champion Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) 1-0 on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019, at the Cebu City Sports Center to get back in contention in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. football tournament.

On the other hand, the Don Bosco Technical College (DBTC) also got its campaign on track with a 13-1 whitewash of guest team Sisters of Mary School-Boystown in the other high school match.

The University of San Jose-Recoletos still leads that standings with six points and is the only team that has a chance to win the title via a sweep of its matches. DBTC, which lost to Ateneo on Sept. 14, leapfrogged to second place with four points and a stronger goal difference over USC-Bed, which also has four points. Ateneo is fourth with three points.

This year, the high school division follows a double round robin format with the top two teams making the final.

With its confidence at a high owing to its 1-0 win over DBTC, Ateneo had the momentum going to the match against USC but failed to break down the defense. In the 65th, Louie Arreglo broke the deadlock for the lone score of the match.

In the first game, Josh Asignar showed up with his golden boot, banging in seven goals against SMS-Boystown, while Will Obedencio had three. Charles Unabia, Miguel Orale and Vaugh Pacaña had one each.

In the college division, defending champion USC was held to a scoreless draw by USJ-R.

It was the second straight draw for USJ-R, which also drew the University of Southern Philippines-Foundation (USPF) during opening day.

In the second game, the University of the Visayas was set to face USPF at press time. (ML)