Gordon brings Glory to Mocho – Lennon claims Ben Francis Cup

Photo: Lennon High school gets presented with the ISSA/FLOW Ben Francis Cup after they defeated defendng champions St. Elizabeth Technical High School 4-2 on penalties after the game ended 1-1 after extra time on Friday. It was the first time Lennon won a senior schoolboy football title.

Lennon High school, led by coach Merron Gordon, brought glory to the Hill of Mocho in Clarendon on Friday when they upset six time defending champions St. Elizabeth Technical High School 4-2 on penalties in the ISSA/FLOW Ben Francis Cup final to claim their first ever, senior schoolboy football title.

The schools had played out at 1-1 draw after full and extra time in an exciting final played out at the Manchester High school. Lennon took the lead early in the first half through a wonder strike from skipper Tavis Grant and looked set to take the title in regulation time. But STETHS refuse to die and equalized dramatically with the last play of the game, in second half stoppage time, when Demar James headed home from a corner kick to send the game into extra time.

The game which was sure to produce some sort of history, with STETHS hunting a record tying seventh straight win and Lennon their first ever title, got off to a lively start as both teams searched each other out.

Lennon shaded the opening minutes of the match and it was no surprise when they took the lead when Grant let fly from distance and caught out Kenroy Wallace with a screamer that flew in just under the crossbar to make it 1-0 in the 16^th minute.

STETHS tried to respond and a dangerous Rujay Robinson free kick, deep inside the Lennon half, had to be punched to safety by Tyronne Mullings.

Another set play, this time centre of the goal, provided STETHS with another opportunity to draw level but the dipper from Clifton Woodbine was smothered by Mullings as the ball came to him on the half volley.

Lennon continued to hunt more goals themselves and after Ray Campbell tricked his was passed a STETHS defender his picked out Kwesi Watts but the winger’s shot went flashing across goal and just beyond the far post.

STETHS failed to get going in midfield and chose the arial root as their point of attack with long balls into the box, but the tactic failed miserable as the centre back pairing of Fitzroy Cummings and Jevaune Mendez ably dealt with all that STETHS could muster.

Christopher Randall led the Lennon counter attacks through midfield on most occasions and seemed the most likely to add to the lead, but neither team was able to change the score line before half time.

Five minutes after the restart STETHS had a glorious opportunity to draw level when James was left unmarked at the back post from a corner kick taken by Robinson but his tame header from four yards was an easy take for Mullings.

Wallace who had done very little since taking the ball out of his net, was very alert in pulling off an instinctive one handed save and kept his team in the contest, following a flicked header from Randall that was certainly destined for the back of the net.

Mullings who had been very instrumental in the Lennon semi-final win over Cornwall College, came up huge for his team yet again in the 60^th minute when he had to adjust to a deflected free kick from Nickalous Gayle. He was caught going right, but then went left to punch powerfully away.

Another chance fell to Randall for Lennon four minutes later, but when the loose ball fell to him his shot went just wide of the near post.

Staring defeat in the face and realizing their strangle hold on the Ben Francis Cup was being loosened by Lennon, STETHS stepped up their pursuit of an equalizer, with their captain Chris-Andrew Dixon grabbing the midfield reins and bossing the game.

Lennon was forced to defend deeper and STETHS earned yet another corner kick from which they should have scored. A deflection on the kick saw the ball fall kindly to Romaine Williams at the back post but he popped the ball over the crossbar from four yards.

When the fourth official put up the clock to show three minutes of added time most of the Lennon fans thought their team was home and dry, but STETHS does not know how to quit.

They kept the pressure on their opponents and a fantastic shot that was heading into the top left hand corner of the net was brilliantly tipped away by Mullings who fell heavily to the ground and was hurt on the play.

But the diminutive goalkeeper who had been brilliant all game, could do nothing about the near post header from the resulting corner kick that James sneaked in just moments before the final whistle. It was a cruel blow for a team that had defended very well for the better part of ninety minutes.

Twenty minutes of extra time produced no further goals which led to the lottery of penalty kicks. STETHS has gotten to the final via the penalty shootout route and would have fancied themselves to go on and win it from there.

Lennon was first to kick and Watts fired home high to the left of Wallace to set the tone for his team. Gayle was first for STETHS and his thunderbolt of a shot was over the head of Mullings and into the back of the net before the keeper could react.

Randall stroked home low to the left of Wallace to make it 2-1 but Woodbine fired home powerfully, to the right of Mullings to level the scores at 2-2 after four kicks.

The fans were cheering wildly and willing their players on the get the job done.

The Lennon captain Tavis Grant then tucked his left footed effort into the right hand corner, beyond the despairing dive of Wallace as Lennon went ahead again at 3-2.

Alex Thompson then skewed his kick horribly wide of the left post to give Lennon the advantage.

Substitute Jason Johnson confidently fired home high to the right of Wallace to extend the advantage of Lennon at 4-2. STETHS captain Chris-Andrew Dixon needed to score to keep his team in the contest but he blazed high over the top of the crossbar and his miss immediately set off Lennon celebrations.

An overwhelmed Merron Gordon was thankful for finally taking a trophy home to Lennon. “I want to thank God first, I want to thank our supporters, thank the school, they sacrificed everything.

“It is a credit to our program. The guys develop and come right through the program.

“We came here and decided we were not going to leave this trophy. STETHS came back late in the game and normally when STETHS comes back late in the game they win, but I told the guys to stick to the plan and if we stuck to the plan we would be OK.”

Wendell Downswell, assistant coach at STETHS was gracious in defeat.

“Overall it was a good game between both teams that played tactically well. I would say they (Lennon) had the better of us in the first half but we came back in the second half and found that all important equalizer very late in the game and we figured more or less that we had the momentum going into that phase of the game,” he explained.

“Kudos to the Lennon team, I think they kept their cool, composure and nerves and they emerged as champions. I must say to coach Gordon, congratulations on his first victory. We are disappointed that we didn’t get the 7^th title but that is part and parcel of the game.”

Lennon will not have a long time to celebrate the win as both teams will face each other in a week’s time in the semi-finals of the DaCosta Cup competition at the same venue.