Claudia Gardner, Gleaner Writer

Lucea, Hanover:

Rusea's High School will face off with Green Island High in the finals of the first Hanover Charity Football Group's Hanover High School's Challenge Cup, at the Rusea's playing field in Lucea today.

Both teams reached the finals following Green Island's 1-0 defeat of Merlene Ottey High School and Rusea's 6-0 battering of the same school (Merlene Ottey) in the first games held at Rusea's last Saturday, after Knockalva High School failed to show for their game against Rusea's.

The finals, which will commence at 4:00 p.m., will be preceded by an opening game, which will see HQ Football Club's Under-16 team facing a Lucea All-Star Under-16 at 2:30 p.m.

Prizes

Saturday's winner will receive the Hanover High School's Challenge Cup plus a cash prize of $50,000 and winners' medals, while the runner-up will be awarded $20,000 and second-place medals. There will also be awards for best goalkeeper, best defender, best striker and leading goalscorer.

The competition is the brainchild of Hanoverian expatriate Lloyd 'Bagga' Stewart, the former Rusea's junior footballer who originally hails from Johnson Town in Lucea.

Stewart told The Gleaner he was pleased with the display of talent in the two games he witnessed last week.

Entertaining

"It was entertaining to me because I have not seen a schoolboy football match since 2001. The talent is there, I am definitely pleased. I am looking forward to the matches and I am very happy to have invested in this competition," he said.

He said the competition is being staged to hone the skills of the young schoolboys within the parish and to ensure that during the summer months the finalists would be able to have funds to support their respective daCosta Cup training camps. He also said he was planning to make the event an annual competition.