Three cheers for Da Silva!

The Dr Antonio Da Silva lads with their MSSA U-16 Div-III winner’s trophy at Cooperage. Pic/Shadab Khan

Dr Antonio Da Silva (Dadar) asserted their authority on St Aloysius High School (Bandra) with a 3-0 victory in the boys' U-16 Division-III final of the MSSA inter-school football tournament at Cooperage recently.

In a keenly-contested first half, the Dadar boys did well to execute the plans of their coach Francis Fernandes and get the desired result. The St Aloysius boys, coached by Gavin Vandrine, tried their best, but struggled to create too many scoring opportunities as they did not penetrate the opposition defence as well as they would have liked to.

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Dr Antonio Da Silva took the lead in the sixth minute. Their hardworking skipper Om Wadekar did well to convert a penalty, following an infringement in the striking circle. The Dadar side tried hard thereafter, but couldn't breach the Aloysius defence for the remainder of the first session.

In the second half however, they emerged with positive intent and were rewarded when their energetic striker Raghav Tatikonda scored a brace to seal the win and ensure top honours for his school.

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Both Dr Antonio Da Silva and St Aloysius have earned a promotion to the Division-II for the next season. Earlier, in the third-place match, St Lawrence High School (Borivli) defeated Aditya Birla School (Tardeo) 6-5 via sudden death.

In the semi-finals, Dr Antonio Da Silva had beaten St Lawrence, while St Aloysius had got the better of Aditya Birla, with identical 2-1 margins.