Cesafi exec: Shortened football season to open Nov. 5

Leo Gabriel Maquiling (center) of Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu is double teamed by Don Bosco’s Earl Matthew Berceles (left) and Trevor Lood in a Cesafi juniors football game at the Cebu City Sports Center. | CDN File Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — One of the most-awaited sporting events of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (Cesafi), the football tournament, will have a shortened season that will unfold on Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022, at the Cebu City Sports Center (CCSC) pitch.

According to the tournament director, Francis Ramirez, numerous teams decided not to join this season for various reasons. 

One of them is the lack of players in their rosters among others. 

“Nagproblema jud ang mga teams kay naay uban kuwang og players. Naa sad uban bag-o pa nakaporma og teams. So mubo-mubo jud atong season karon kay naay uban dili makaapil,” Ramirez told CDN Digital. 

(Our teams have encountered some problems because some of them lack players. There are also others who had just formed their teams. So we will have a shorter season now because there are others who failed to join this season.)

Instead of the six usual teams competing in the high school division, there will only be four for the Cesafi football 2022 season.

This is after the Sisters of Mary School (SMS) Boystown and the University of Southern Philippines-Foundation (USP-F) Panthers decided not to join. 

Despite the setback, Ramirez is very optimistic that this season will do well, with the presence of the tournament’s strong contenders.

On Saturday, former Cesafi high school football champions and 2019’s third-runners up, the Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (SHS-AdC) will highlight the opening match against 2019’s first runners-up, the University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) at 8:00 AM. 

It will be followed by the match between the reigning 2019 champions, the Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) against the University of San Carlos (USC) at 10:00 AM. 

The afternoon matches will have the 2019 first-runners-up, the University of Cebu (UC) against USJ-R at 1:00 PM. 

The four-peat champions and the 2019 reigning champions, USC, will play against the University of Southern Philippines-Foundation (USP-F) at 3:00 PM. 

According to Ramirez, CCSC’s football pitch is already in playable condition, after it was heavily used in last August’s Pasigarbo sa Sugbu. 

“Nauli-an na gamay, pero dili jud pareho atong pagPalarong Pambansa bubble nato nga condition. Naay portion nga baga ang grass, naay portion nga opaw gamay, pero okay ra maduwaan,” said Ramirez. 

(The pitch has slightly recovered, but it is still not in the same condition during the Palarong Pambansa bubble. There are portions that the grass is thick, there are portions which has only a few patches of grass, but the pitch is ready for the games.)

“Ready na ang tanan para sa opening. Ang gihuwat na lang nako ang final listing sa screening committee para makita nato ang qualified players,” he said.

(All are ready for the opening. We are just waiting for the final listing of the screening committee so that we can see the qualified players.)

The Cesafi Football Tournament is scheduled to last until Dec. 11, 2022.

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