Toledo Xignex Trojans logo.
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Toledo Xignex Trojans upset top-seed Camarines Soaring Eagles on Wednesday to rule the southern division of the PCAP All-Filipino Conference.
The victory pushed the second-seed Trojans to the grand finals for the second season in a row.
This time, the Toledo Trojans are more determined to go one step further and capture their first ever PCAP title which slipped off their hands in last year’s Season 3 SGM Wesley So Cup.
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On Wednesday evening, the Trojans battled Camarines tooth and nail after their two-set match headed into the Armageddon tiebreaker.
Both teams finished the first match tied at 10.5 points each, but Toledo won via an Armageddon tiebreaker.
However, Camarines gave Toledo a scare when it won the second match, 13-8, forcing the deciding Armageddon tiebreaker.
It was in the deciding round that Toledo made sure to bury the Soaring Eagles, beating the latter 2-1 twice in the Armageddon tiebreaker.
In the first set, International Master (IM) Kim Steven Yap won over National Master (NM) Giovanni Mejia, while Chin Lim upsets Grandmaster (GM) Darwin Laylo. The Trojans would’ve swept the first set if not for IM Joel Pimentel’s loss to Ellan Asuela.
In the second set, IM Yap and Lim defeated NM Mejia and GM Laylo anew, while Asuela beat IM Pimentel to win the south division title.
The rest of the woodpushers who played for Toledo on Wednesday’s south division finals were IM Angelo Young, NM Merben Roque, Allan Pason, and Women’s FIDE Master (WFM) Cherry Ann Mejia in the south division finals.
Toledo will face the Manila Load Manna Knights, a first-time north division champion and grand finalist.
The Manna Knights upset the heavily favored former PCAP champions, San Juan Predators, 15-6 and 11-10.
The Toledo Xignex Trojans vs Manna Knights grand finals showdown is on Saturday, May 25, at 7:00 p.m., and will be live-streamed on PCAP’s Facebook page.