THE UNIVERSITY of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) is Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi) football champion no more.

Its four-year reign in the Cesafi ended after the University of the Visayas Greenbooters fulfilled its three-year goal with a 4-0 rout of the champion in the finals yesterday at the Sacred Heart School-Jesuit.

UV is only the second football champ in Cesafi as USJ-R took the first four titles.

In the battle for third, the University of San Carlos surged to a 3-0 half time lead before holding on for a 3-2 win over the spiraling University of Southern Philippines Foundation.

USP, one of the teams able to beat USJ-R this year, lost its last three matches after its 2-0 win over USJ-R.

“This is the fruit of a three-year labor. It was three years ago when we took these players in at UV after they graduated from high school,” an ecstatic UV coach
Eddie Buot said, referring to the workman Junard Aguilar, who netted 10 goals this season including the opener yesterday, midfielders Julius Acre and Martin Bontia, whose controlled play in the middle led to most of UV’s goals, and defenders Ivan Dimco and Josaphat Sacil.

Aguilar, who missed the semifinals due to tonsillitis, struck in the 22nd exploiting a miscue by the defense and using his speed and dribbling skills to find an opening.

USJ-R kept pushing in the second half, but Jade Paghubasan rarely found an opening.

Julius Acre’s header off a corner in the 70th gave their defense breathing space and after the goal, USJ-R seemed to have lost its will to win as tempers flared during the match.

Fortunately, no untoward incidents happened.

It was such an unfortunate day for USJ-R that in the 75th, a goalmouth scramble had the ball roll off keeper Frederick Alazas’ back, flirting near the goal line before getting cleared.

“Malas jud, di gyud para ila,” a USJ-R fan lamented. (Tough luck. The game is not really for them.)

Kurt Acre made it 3-0 in the 85th on a penalty, then capped his performance in the 88th with a cross that got deflected by a USJ-R defender into the goal.

“This is our belated gift to sir Eddie (Gullas) who had his birthday last Oct. 13,” Buot said.

What a fitting gift it is.

IT WAS an all Bosconian affair in the Aboitiz 12-Under division as two Don Bosco teams scored easy routs yesterday at the San Roque Parish grounds.

Don Bosco College (DBC) started the offensive as it blanked Bright Academy 6-0 before Don Bosco Youth Center (DBYC) joined the rampage with an 8-0 whipping of hosts San Roque FC.

On the other hand, Paref Springdale took the lead in their group with a 2-1 escape over the Cebu International School for their second straight win.

Karl Arcenas, who scored all four goals in Paref’s 4-1 win over DBYC last week, scored early in the 2nd but Emmanuel Cunningham leveled the count in the 25th. Shawn Hausen scored the go-ahead goal for Springdale in the 30th as they handed CIS its first loss. CIS routed SRFC 11-0 in their first match last week.

Robert Gealon struck in the eighth minute for DBC, and Ethan Decina added another in the 15th before Winrich Baclay struck in the 21st for a 3-0 half-time lead.

Things got worse for Bright in the second half as Peter Ricamora scored in the 34th and Baclay added in another in the 47th. Miguel Caindec scored the final goal for DBC in the 49th as it cruised to its second straight rout after a 7-0 beating of SRFC last week.

John Labajo scored twice in the first 10 minutes and Dennis Legaspi added another in the 17th as DBYC cruised to an early 3-0 lead.

Christian Agot and Hindley Redulla found the net early in the second half before super-sub Nonito Salazar scored thrice in a seven-minute span to compete the rout.

Hiroshi FC also logged its second win with Prince Anthony scoring the lone goal in the 20th minute for a 1-0 escape over Cebu Inmaculada Concepcion.

However, DBYC luck didn’t carry out in the 15-under division as Hiroshi picked up
steam in the second half for a 10-1 rout, behind Miguel Sabang’s hat trick.

Games today
8 Bright vs. Don Bosco College
9 Springdale vs Cebu International School
10 CIC-Mandaue vs Hiroshi FC
11 San Roque FC vs DB Youth Center

U 15 matches
1 Hiroshi FC vs DBYC
3 CIC-M vs University of Southern Philippines Foundation

Games today
8 Bright vs. Don Bosco College
9 Springdale vs Cebu International School
10 CIC-Mandaue vs Hiroshi FC
11 San Roque FC vs DB Youth Center

U 15 matches
1 Hiroshi FC vs DBYC
3 CIC-M vs University of Southern Philippines Foundation

The Patid Bola (PaBol) Academy recently held a futsal clinic for its kids at the newly constructed court at Metrosports.

Let’s hope that this is the start of more clinics and more tournaments for futsal in the Cebu.

Here are the list of teams for the coming Aboitiz League. Note that teams will have only until Oct. 19 to submit their final requirements and line up.

The venue is San Roque and I know there are a lot of pros and cons regarding that. So, click the add comment button and write your thoughts ok?

Among the cons are security concerns.

I talked with Maxi and he says that the SRFC will help in ensuring that no untoward incident will happen. This is also a blow for SRFC efforts to revive football in their community if some drunk dude gets rough with the players.

What are your concerns?

1 Hiroshi Football Club
2 Exas Phils Disbanded; will not participate
3 University of the Visayas Opted to play in 2nd Division
4 Crazy Horse Football Club
5 USJ-R Alumni
6 University of Southern Phils
7 University of San Carlos
8 Queen City United Opted to play in 2nd Division
9 Don Bosco Alumni FC
10 Mactan Football Club Merged with Metropolitan FC
11 Magone Football Club
12 University of Cebu
13 Cebu Institute of Technology
14 Metropolitan Football Club
15 Danao Football Club

FC International Cebu New team; automatic in 2nd Div
San Roque Football Club New team; automatic in 2nd Div
Wild Cebu Football Club New team; automatic in 2nd Div
CSCST New team; automatic in 2nd Div

THEY sport the colors of the famous Bayern Munich jersey, yet FC Inter Cebu, the newest football club in the city is not just a plain copycat of German football - they are the brainchild of German footballers.

Founded by German expatriates Manfred Shcuwerk and Paul Weiler, the club is currently training kids in OAD in Talamban, Lapu-lapu Mepz1, and in San Roque.

Last Sunday, they had their foundation day and election of officers and today they have scheduled another mini competition at the OAD field in Talamban.

Their German sponsors also attended their elections, which also included a contest in slalom, target and distance shooting for 30 kids.

“We are now in the second division of the Aboitiz Cup and we are joining their 15-under division and hopefully we will become bigger,” Weiler told Sun.star yesterday.

Richard Alexander T Lim was elected president with Schuwerk as vice president and Weiler as the manager. Others officers are Limjame Ompad as secretary, Mary Ann Loraine Araneta as treasurer and youth representatives Edson Jude H Donoson and Ian Caesar Baco.

Also last Oct. 1, they arranged a series of exhibition matches against youth powers Paref Springdale to gauge their skills level.

“The little kids we drew 1-1 and in the bigger kids we lost 0-3 which isn’t bad,” Weiler said.

FC Inter Cebu is the third club to be founded by expatriates in the city after the Crazy Horse and the Haro Iwanaga owned Hiroshi FC.

In the Aboitiz Opener yesteday, Hiroshi banked on Prince Anthony, Raphael Estremos and Dan Marnil Villarico for a 3-0 blowout of Bright Academy while Karl Arcenas showed up with his golden boot as he scored all four goals in a 4-1 blast of Don Bosco Youth Center

IT wasn’t easy, but the University of the Visayas (UV) and the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) survived their tough semifinal matches yesterday to set up an exciting Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. football final (Cesafi) at the Sacred Heart School-Jesuit field.

The top-ranked UV had to dig deep into its bag of tricks to survive a gritty University of San Carlos (USC) 1-0, while the four-time champion USJ-R endured a late game onslaught by the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) to advance 2-1.

To avoid a repeat of the University of Cebu walkout last Sunday, tournament manager Bro. Mari Aberasturi moved the technical bench to the other side of the field and limited access to coaches and players only.

“Last week, there were too many people, who were not with the coaching staff, but sat near (players) bench and they influenced the team to walkout,” Aberasturi said.

UV and USJ-R will meet for the title next Sunday while USC battles USPF for third still at SHS-J.

It was a different USC squad who showed up in the first semifinal as it matched every move of the top seed. In their first encounter, USC lost 4-1 despite scoring first.

UV played shorthanded yesterday with Melvin Culibra serving a suspension and workhorse Junard Aguilar, who has scored nine goals in five matches, unable to play due to tonsillitis.

Kurt Acre tried to fill the void up front but his strike from left in the 26th sailed just high.

With their offense struggling, the wily Julius Acre, Kurt’s younger brother, pulled one just beyond the half court mark and struck pay dirt as he hit the top right corner for a 1-0 lead in the 40th.

The younger Acre’s crisp passes in the second half could have added more to the score but Junar Labastida hit the post while Josaphat Sacil’s shot sailed too high.

USC got a chance in a goalmouth scramble in the 70th before keeper Frederick Alazas recovered his composure and the ball to preserve the shutout.

“I got hit after getting the ball, luckily it dropped near me and nobody was there,” Alazas said after the match.

In the second game, Mark Gallardo’s perfectly taken 30-yard free kick got past Oscar Lemence to put USP up 1-0 in the first three minutes.

However, Jade Paghubasan made sure there was no repeat of their 1-2 loss to USPF in the elimination as he drove from left in the 14th for the equalizer before Jonathan Sollo scored the go-ahead in the 33rd.

It was a spirited second half as USP tried to equalize, coming close a few times on Lemence’s errors on his approach. Lemence mistimed the drop of the ball and left the goal unguarded but USP failed to take advantage as USJ-R took their fifth straight Cesafi finals appearance.

HOST Cebu International School (CIS) and Don Bosco College (DBC) scored easy routs yesterday to open their Aboitiz 12 Under campaign on a high note at the CIS grounds last Saturday.

CIS toyed with San Roque Football Club 11-0 while DBC blanked Cebu Inmaculda Concepcion-Mandaue 7-0 in the other game.

Mark Lotzof started the onslaught for CIS and Rowdy Elbers and Jae Min Park scored in the 21st and 23rd to make it 3-0. Emmanuel Cunningham scored in the 27th to put an early conclusion in the game as CIS got up 4-0 in the first half.

Other CIS scorers were Nicolas Aboitiz with two, Emili Cunningham, and Thomas Booth while Park and Elbers added a goal each in the second half.

In the second game, Winrich Baclay, and Andrew Tabar scored twice to two the favored DBC to their easy win over CIC-M. Baclay got the ice breaker in the 17th and Miguel Caindec made it 2-0 in the 20th. Before CIC could recover, Tabar and Miko Limalima scored nine mintues apart for a 4-0 lead at the turn.

It was all DBC in the second half as Tabar scruck again in the 38th while Baclay scored his second in the 40th and Vinz Saso completed the rout in the 42nd.

The rest of the U12 and U15 matches were cancelled as the strong downpour rendered the CIS field unplayable and matches will resume next weekend at the San Roque Parish.

The first time they met, the defending champions got a humbling 0-2 lesson.

Will there be a repeat?

Both teams set up a final showdown as they survived tough semifinal foes to advance to the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc football final at the Sacred Heart School-Jesuit field.

UV defeated the University of San Carlos 1-0 courtesy of Julius Acre strike from half court while USJ-R overcame getting a goal down in the third minute to beat the University of Southern Philippines Foundation 2-1.