CVFA players and coaching staff celebrate after beating NCRFA. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Central Visayas Football Association (CVFA)-Don Bosco Technology Center (DBTC) Greywolves shocked the heavily-favored 12-time UAAP boys high school champions, the National Capital Region Football Association (NCRFA)-Far Eastern University (FEU) Baby Tamaraws, in the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) U19 Boys National Championships-Final Round on Saturday evening, June 8.
This was after the CVFA-DBTC Greywolves pulled off a huge upset against the NCRFA-FEU, 2-1, to punch a ticket to the finals.
Saturday night’s game at the Dynamic Herb-Borromeo Sports Complex was also a historic milestone for CVFA after they reached the PFF Boys National Championships for the first time.
READ: CVFA hosts Phil. Football Federation U19 Boys Finals anew
In 2022, CVFA started in the lower Division 2. They slowly climbed into Division 1 the following year.
In last year’s semifinals also held here in Cebu, CVFA wrapped up their campaign with a heartbreaking fourth-place honors.
READ: CVFA beats Panay FA to top PFF U19 Boys Group B
During their game on Saturday, they turned the table completely despite being the underdogs.
CVFA logged its first goal in the 10th-minute courtesy of midfielder Joross Clark Tabar.
READ: CVFA rips ZANDIFA, cements Group B lead in PFF U19 Nat’l C’ships
He fired a long shot just outside the penalty area that went in, causing the entire Dynamic Herb-Borromeo Sports Complex to erupt in celebration.
CVFA finished the first half with a 1-0 advantage.
Penalty Kick
In the second half, NCRFA-FEU gave CVFA a scare after scoring an equalizer in the 53rd minute from substitute John Lloyd Amita.
However, the NCRFA-FEU committed a crucial blunder late in the second half after James Torres tackled John Bryl Gimenez to prevent the latter from scoring an easy breakaway goal.
This resulted in a yellow card and a penalty kick for CVFA’s team captain Carsten Pumareja.
Pumareja went on to convert his penalty kick to give the lead back to CVFA-DBTC in the 79th minute.
CVFA-DBTC head coach Glenn Ramos credited his team’s efforts despite their lack of preparation heading into this tournament.
“I’m very happy with the results and the team’s performance since the group stage. Even the individual players were also busy doing their studies especially most of them graduating. Our CVFA team’s objective is to reach finals and that’s our goal. I thank God for the blessing and guidance. Here we are now in the finals. This is going to be a very exciting game tomorrow,” Ramos said.
CVFA will face Negros Occidental Regional Football Association (NORFA) in the championship match on Monday, June 10, at 7 p.m.
NORFA routed Panay FA, 4-1, in the other semifinal match last Saturday.