In today’s RIFA meeting for this school year 2008-2009, La Salle Antipolo, Greenhills, and Lipa confirmed their participation in this year’s RIFA tournaments. Only La Salle Zobel did not join RIFA among the La Salle teams.

There are also 2 new members for RIFA boys, Victory Christian School and Far Eastern University (FEU).

In the Girls division, Poveda and La Salle Greenhills will be joining this year.

I think this year will be very competitive and very exciting.

HEdCen girls and boys teams must be ready!!!

RIFA games will start late this August.

HEdCen Midgets C (Boys born 1996): Champion

HEdCen Midgets E (Boys born 1998): 3rd Place

HEdCen Midgets G (Boys born 2000): 3rd Place

HEdCen Girls Born 94-95: Champion

HEdCen Girls Born 96-98: 3rd Place

CSA Makati, Sept 15 - HEdCen Team A of Midgets C, Midgets E, and Midgets G won all played games in the 2nd day of the eliminations round of the RIFA tournament. All teams played very well and consistently throughout the morning. Without a doubt, the HEdCen teams were the most organized and advanced in skills for each division.

Xavier, San Juan, Aug 26 - James Condat and Redwoods boys born 94, 95, and 96 beat Claret 5-1 in their opening game of the RIFA Midgets A division.

The much larger players of Claret were immediately outplayed by the Redwoods since the start of the match. Superior ball-handling skills, passing, and timed runs got the ball in the penalty area for a couple of goal attempts including Miguel Santos-Tankia’s wide open volley kick.

Skie opened the score sheet on the 10th minute to give the Redwoods the lead, 1-0. He fired a follow-up shot 10 yards away from the center of the goal. It was a well-placed shot at the side.

The next goal was an assist by Miguel Santos-Tankia who received a through pass down the left flank towards the keeper. Instead of taking the shot, he dropped the ball behind the keeper to a cutting forward, Miguel Almazan. Miguel banked the ball in and gave the Redwoods a 2-0 advantage.

After a minute from the 2nd goal, Claret managed to slip through HEdCen’s defenders and Janos Acorda to score a much-needed goal.

The claretians looked to equalize before the end of the half but Skie showed he was the best player on the field not just by his passing but his skill to penetrate the defense. He faked a pass from halfcourt and drove down the left wing meeting another defender whom he nutmegged. He positioned himself to pass but fooled his defenders when he evaded their sweeping feet and dribbled straight to the keeper. He slowed down and waited as the keeper and a defender sped towards him before delivering a classic chip over the keeper and defender for the 3rd goal. He amazed his teamates, the spectators, his opponents, and his fans who cheered wildly from the sidelines. The score at the end of the half was 3-1.

In the 2nd half, Toffee and AJ, HEdCen’s sweeper and stopper were instructed to concentrate and reserve their energy for defense instead of helping in offense. Alen took care of the right side as Joseph and Anjo guarded the left side. Since then, Claret had no clear attempt to the goal and it was all HEdCen.

It was a half-court game with the Redwoods as the aggressor. They operated on Claret with short 1-2 passes which included short runs on the wings and crosses to the middle. Skie took control of the middle and his range was wide hustling for the ball regardless of how large his nemesis was. He caught one of these balls and set-up John Condat for a shot who blasted the ball above the keeper. The score was 4-1.

The final point was scored by Captain James Condat on the 60th minute. He cut for a pass on the right flank and received the ball on the run. Just before he reached the penalty box, he released the bomb on Claret’s goal. It was a wicked shot, too fast, too strong, and well aimed that the keeper didn’t bother diving to deflect the ball at all.

Xavier, San Juan, Aug 26 - HEdCen beat Marist 12-0 in their opening game of the RIFA Boys Aspirants Division.

At the start of the game, 10:45AM, Marist showed resistance against HEdCen’s aggressive style. They played hard and ran after every HEdCenite with the ball. A couple of times they got the ball to HEdCen’s penalty area.

20 minutes after, Marist exhausted all their energy and could not keep-up with HEdCen’s fast-paced game.

Reginald scored the first goal and that started the massacre of Marist. At the end of the first half, the score was 4-0.

The Redwoods boys were challenged to keep up the pace at the 2nd half and they did just that. Marist was simply out of HEdCen’s league. The final score was 12-0.

The following scored goals: Pea - 3, Nino - 3, Shane - 2, Martin - 2, Eric - 1, Renee - 1

This was Martin Gomez’s first two goals in his football career. Both were longshots that bounced over the keeper and landed straight to the goal net.

Nino played striker in the 2nd half of the game and scored all his goals during that time.

Marist was held scoreless, complements to tight defense by Zach, Nino, Shane, Ryan, Emilio, Leon, and goal keeper Sam Vitug.

The player of the game was Calvin Sy who played exceptionally well in center midfield behind Pea and Shane in the first half. It was his efforts that drained the energy off the Marist players by his ball interceptions, accurate passes, and long balls to the forwards which caught Marist defenders off-guard.

Xavier, Aug 25 - HEdCen Girls beat Miriam 2-1 in their opening match of the RIFA Girls born 1990 11-a-side tournament.

HEdCen girls were out-of-shape but their superior football skills gave them the edge over Miriam. For most of the game, the score was even at 0-0. HEdCen’s passing freed Marsha and Louise for open shots but missed their target. Joan and Marsha did a good job controlling the middle while HEdCen’s defense managed to hold under the Cervania siblings Apple and Margot. HEdCen’s X-fatctor was Patricia Screof, a new student who is an expert in taekwondo. ” She was fearless, a fighter. No one could beat her aggressiveness on the field,” said Coach Sugar.

The game was tied until 15 minutes before the end of regulation time. A long ball was sent towards Miriams goal and Mary Rose, the fastest player on the field, zoomed past all Miriam defenders to play the keeper 1-on-1 and beat her to give the Redwoods the lead.

HEdCen barely had 5 minutes to celebrate when Miriam rained on their parade, scoring the equalizer, 1-1.

In the last 5 minutes, Louise received a thru-pass from Marsha as she cut to the space behind the defenders. She dribbled and took a wide open shot which Miriam’s keeper could not handle. She scored the winning goal of HEdCen which won 2-1.

Marikina Sports Plaza, Marikina, Aug 4 - After the Outreach team defeated HEdCen Midgets B, HEdCen highschool played the Brookside boys plus Coach Bernard, Andrew, Bong, Archie, Janos Acorda, and Coach Juaqui. HEdCen highschool won 6-4 after one straight hour of regulation time.

Brookside boys plus coaches looked to redeem themselves from a humiliating 6-2 loss in their previous encounter 2 weeks ago in the same venue.

Brookside first scored on the first few minutes after a deflection of the ball to the goal on a drop pass.

Jomar Dalaguit equalized on a corner kick that landed at his position in the far post. He trapped the ball and fired a volley that sank into the top right corner of the goal.

After 15 minutes, It was Jomar again who released another volley from the right side this time and scored on the left top corner.

Coach Bernard came to the rescue for Brookside who’s gameplan at defense was to avoid extra passing and dribbling at the back and clear balls to the forward line. Coach Bernard caught one of those balls and drove through the right flank beating the defenders and the goalie, Sam Vitug.

It seemed that the Brookside team found their composure as the game was tied at 2-2 after 35 minutes of play. But another goal was scored by the Redwoods.

Again, Brookside equalized but lost Coach Bernard for a few minutes after Zach Riskins elbow accidentally hit and cut Coach Bernard’s lip.

HEdCen highschool took advantage of Coach Bernard’s absence and pressed on the attack. After a series of passes advancing to the goal, Junichi managed to evade Coach Juaqui’s tackle and take a well placed shot to the bottom right corner of the goal. Janos had no chance to save the ball.

It seemed all was lost for Brookside, but Andrew (Skie’s Tito) slashed from the left and received a through ball at the right flank from Bong. He completely surprised the Redwoods defense as he dribbled straight to the goal and scored against Sam Vitug. The game was again tied at 4-4.

After Andrew’s equalizer, the highschool team proved to be better conditioned and had the right mindset on finishing the game as they relentlessly attacked and scored 2 goals in the last 10 minutes. Renee scored the last goal from just outside the penalty box. It was a wicked grounder that zoomed straight to the goal’s left side.

Marikina Sports Plaza, Marikina, Aug 4 - Yesterday, we played two 30-minute halves in Marikina Sports Plaza. The teams were divided into HEdCen Outreach and HEdCen Midgets B.

Even though Midgets B, led by Skie Carranza, had a more fluid attack, Midgets B lost to the much older outreach team 2-3.

The outreach team was composed mainly of born 94-92 players such as Anglo, Albert, and Ronald. There were 12 players on the field for the Outreach team and included in the line-up were Marielle Blas, Mary Rose Obra, Edward dela Cruz, Joan dela Cruz, Vinz Epino, Anjo Cabading, and myself, Coach Juaqui.

The players of the midgets B team were the following: Miguel Almazan, Tim Blas, Rvin Resuma, Skie Carranza, Troy Cervania, Miguel Santos-Tankia, James Condat, John Condat, Tim Blas, Bryan Pentojo, Luigi Fernandez, and Nikki.

Midgets B dominated the game with synchronized player and ball movement on wall passes and runs to the wings. But the outreach defenders held them off under Vinz and Anjo’s lead. Outreach team cleared the balls that initiated counterattacks by Coach Juaqui, Mary Rose, Anglo, Joan, and Albert. The rest of the outreach team concentrated on defense.

The first goal was by Albert Masan. Midgets B quickly equalized then scored another to lead 2-1. Again, it was Albert for the equalizer.

In the last minute of the match, I (Coach Juaqui) aimed a long overhead pass to Mary Rose who sped for the ball and caught it 30 yards from the goal. She immediately blasted it to the far corner to score the last and deciding goal of the game.

ADMU, Quezon City, July 28 - HEdCen topped all 8 teams in the boys born 1999 division to claim gold in the 1st Blue Guards Cup.

The young Redwoods beat all their opponents including Corinthians FC, Ateneo, and Southridge. They also scored the most goals and this was enough to rank them as the top team for that division.

A dynamic duo of Alec Adeva and Anton Escario crushed all of their opponent’s defense with wall passes, crosses, and superior ball control. They scored almost all of HEdCen’s goals.

The X-factor however was JR Gutang who took midfield position and took complete control of his zone. Most of HEdCen’s counterattack’s were initiated by JR’s aggressive play and passing skills. He distributed the ball to Anton on the right and Alec at the left.

Keanan Violan was HEdCen’s goalie and was best keeper of the tournament. Not a single goal slipped past his hands. David Cabrera and Charles Tanchuan were HEdCen’s defenders who never broke down. Other members of the champion team were Samson, Ynno Plucena, and Joshua Santos.

Redwoods boys born 1999 win their first championship in a tournament despite the loss of top player Tomas Cuervo who left for England this summer.

ADMU, Quezon City, July 28 - Hughann Plucena lead HEdCen to top group A of the boys born 1997 in the Blue Guards Cup. HEdCen played Ateneo in the semifinals and ended up 3rd overall.

In the eliminations, HEdCen played DSWD twice. Both games ended in a draw despite a relentless assault from forwards Hughann Plucena and Nikko Naackaerts. Andre Calderon played midfield and distributed the ball to the wings. Unfortunately, all of HEdCen’s attempts missed their marks on the goal.

Edward dela Cruz lead HEdCen’s defense with consistent, well-timed clearing at the defending zone. Ackie took care of the left side and Mico Protacio was the team’s goalkeeper. Ravi Cava, Kurt de Leon, and Miguel Salanga provided support being part of the rotation in defense and offense.

HEdCen also played Southridge B in group A eliminations whom they beat twice. Plucena scored both goals, one of which came from an assist by Andre Calderon.

Against Ateneo in the semifinals, HEdCen’s backline collapsed after a couple of direct kicks from Ateneo’s keeper. Ateneo’s first goal came from a deflection by Protacio that sent the ball over his head and into the goal. The other goal also came from Ateneo’s keeper from a goalie’s kick that bopunced-off Ackie’s head in front of the goal and was banked in by a rushing Atenean. Redwoods strikers Plucena and Nackaerts attacked fiercely but Ateneo established their defense after scoring their first goal. The final score was 2-0.