DEFENDING champion Unit 7, bannered by Holy Child College of Davao (HCCD) Red Eagles, scored a three-peat to mark another milestone after beating the Davao Jones Academy (DJA) Spunky-bannered Unit 8, 68-60, in the Davao City Athletic Association (Dcaa) Meet 2018 secondary boys basketball tournament finals held at the Fil Oil Flying V Rizal Memorial Colleges (RMC) Event Center last Friday, October 19.
Coached by Nestor "Tating" Sorrosa and Roger Rabago,who steered the Davao Regional Athletic Association (Davraa) Eagles to a silver medal finish in the 2018 Palarong Pambansa in Ilocos Sur, will try to defend the gold in the regional qualifying for Palarong Pambansa.
After bowing to the National Capital Region (NCR) in the Palaro finals, the Dabawenyos will seek for redemption.
Palaro veterans Vince Petdeo Cuajao and Emiliano Escalera will lead the city’s stint in the Davraa.
"Maningkamot lang ta ani. Kusog man gud kaayo ang NCR ug Pampanga. Naa sa ilaha tanan ang lamang gikan sa height ug size (We will strive. NCR and Pampanga are strong teams with their height and heft),” Rabago said.
Rabago, however, said they will also get some help from Unit 8's top players to complete their Davraa 2019 roster.
"Hulat nalang mi sa decision sa Department of Education (DepEd) kay seven-three-two man ang initial na rule (We will wait for DepEd since the policy was to form a team with seven players from the champion team, three from silver medal team and two from the bronze team)," he added..
Although they soared their way to the finals unbeaten, the Red Eagles faces sriff competition against Unit 8. The latter paced the game by 12 points in the first quarter but Unit 7 cut the lead to five at the half. Unit 7 then snatched a five-point lead until pulling away in the final three minutes of the counter.
Unit 7 was composed of Rudyard Jay Villaflores, Froilan Tingabngab, Charles Vidanes, James Paolo Manigo, Ralf Panto, Rommel Mercado, Aeron Awe, Chucky Pacifico, Carljake Dumalagan and Jan Michael Tanduyan.