DBTC ends slump
DEFENDING champion Don Bosco Technological Center is finally getting its groove back, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. After a 0-1 loss and a 1-1 draw, DBTC finally earned a win, outlasting a game University of San Carlos-Basic Education Department (USC-BED), 1-0, for its first win in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. high school football tournament in front of a boisterous crowd at the Cebu City Sports Center.
DBTC is now fourth in the competition at three points and up next for the Greywolves is leaders Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu, which won its fourth straight game with a 4-0 wallop of the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF). The University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R), which handed DBTC an opening day loss, also boosted its hold of the No. 2 spot after beating Sisters of Mary School-Boystown, 4-1.
Against USC, it seemed DBTC would be left to rue its missed chances, before Charles Unabia ended the deadlock with only eight minutes left. Josh Asignar, the target of the DBTC offense, had at least four shots in the second half—three from set pieces—but in the lone shot he got past the wall, USC keeper John Ryll Eldian was there to collect.
Eldian played so well all game long that DBTC coach Glenn Ramos approached him at the end to praise his game, saying, “Maayoha nimo dong oi.”
But it was what Ramos told his players during the water-break at the second-half that turned the game.
“I told them that the forwards should stay high and if the midfield get the ball, they should not just focus on Asignar but also look at Charles Unabia,” he said.
Before that point, Asignar was making life hell for the USC defense with his forays at left, while Earl Matthew Berciles, a central defender converted to a forward, also had some half-chances at goal. Unabia was rarely involved at right flank.
That would soon change. After yet another Asignar free kick hit the wall, USC failed to clear the ball properly and the DBTC midfield found a streaking Unabia down right and the forward didn’t disappoint, getting past his defender and the keeper for the lone goal of the match to spark a wild celebration at the stands.
USC had a final chance for an equalizer too, even after Augustus Canoy broke up an attack in an impressive display of fair play as Trevor Lood was still on the other end in pain. Ethan Royce Mendoza sent in a teasing floater of a free kick into the six-yard box but Lance Alkuino managed to collect it.
Meanwhile, Ramos said that after putting Berciles up front, they might tinker with their lineup some more now that it’s Ateneo for them—Cebu football’s version of El Classico.
“It was only last Monday that we decided to put Beciles up front. We might keep him there since the defense played well. We also might play with the lineup some more since we’re playing Ateneo,” said Ramos.
DBTC will have to change its lineup since it will miss Asignar in its next game due to accumulated yellows, while Ateneo will also miss Julian Cabatingan, who intentionally got a second yellow against USPF. Too bad for Cabatingan—who took off his shirt then pretended to take off his shorts to get the card—tournament officials are deliberating if his insolence merits an additional one-game suspension.
“Ni-aksyon pa man hubo sa iyang shorts,” said tournament director Francis Ramirez. “If he wanted to get a yellow, he could have gone off the field, or taken off his shirt. He shouldn’t have done that (pretend to take off his shorts). ML