Losing an entire day of action to turbulent weather was no deterrent for Bermuda’s promising footballers playing their hearts out on the final day of the event yesterday.

The National Sports Centre was abuzz with excitement when the island’s premier youth football tournament came to a close. Organisers were forced to call off matches on Saturday owing to thunder, lightning and heavy rain, which made for unsafe conditions.

Warwick Football Academy Valencia set the ball rolling by defeating PHC 5-1 in the girls under-7 final. Maribella Sebastiao netted a hat-trick after Yara Robinson scored a brace.

PHC, who had goalkeeper Róisín Murphy to thank for keeping Warwick at bay, got their only goal from Rey Hubbard-Reeves. It was the first time that the Zebras juniors had fielded a girls team in this age group at the Classic.

“I thought the other team was going to win but when we started to score goals, my team did pretty well,” Sebastiao told The Royal Gazette.

“We grew in confidence and knew that we were going to win. I feel happy about that.”

Warwick came from a goal down to overcome Bascome Futbol Leadership Academy 3-2 in sudden-death penalties to clinch the girls under-13 title. Silky skills from Melah Wolffe-Rutherford saw her opening the scoring for BLFA in the first half.

However, Warwick never gave up, with captain Mirabella Lohan equalising with a brilliant long-range free kick. The 13-year-old is part of a group of players from Bermuda leaving on Tuesday for the Easter International Cup, in Orlando.

“I feel that we deserved to win because of the hard work we put into our training sessions before the tournament,” the defensive midfielder said. “It hasn't sunk in yet that we are the champions.

“I wasn't really aiming for any particular spot when I took that free kick. I just took a breath and aimed at the goal, and I was delighted that the ball went in.”

In the girls under-15 division, a star-studded Dandy Stars featuring a number of junior national players defeated an equally formidable PHC 3-1 on penalties. The match had concluded 0-0 in regulation time.

Keyandae Lightbourne, Ny'Asia White, Saony Trott, Christia Lugo-Elibox, Robin Valana Pearman, Daley Outerbridge and Milan Gibbons-Thomas were on the Stars side. PHC had Tayte Glasgow, Semaj Basden-Scott, Jayshay Trott, Antoinette Barry and Cayli Dowling.

Earlier in the day, PHC recorded a 3-1 victory on penalties. The teams met in a match that had to be settled by spot-kicks after Saturday had been lost to the weather.

Lugo-Elibox, the Stars captain, felt that they deserved to win because of the great effort that had been put into their preparations.

“It was a well-deserved win,” the Bermuda Under-20 co-captain said.

“My team fought hard until the end and we prospered. I’m really proud of the team because we lost to PHC on penalties in the group stage.

“What mattered most was the final and I’m glad we won it on penalties. Their goalkeeper was really good. She stopped most of our shots at goal, but our back line was also solid enough for us not to concede.”

Valana-Pearman was delighted to lift a trophy on her return to the island. The England-based forward, who is studying at Mount Kelly School, will be coming back home again to play for Stars in the Summer League.

“It feels good to give back to my neighbourhood club,” the 18-year-old said.

“I think working together as a team won us this tournament. With the rain situation, we had to practice penalties, just in case we got to the final.

“I played with most of these players in the national team, so we’re pretty close. What made the final even tougher was that PHC also had some national team players, that’s why it was such a back and forth battle.”

Warwick Arsenal triumphed 2-1 in the under-11 girls final. Sophie Farrer opened the scoring for the winning team, before Kierra Broadley-Samuels netted BLFA’s equalising goal. But Tilly Hughes won it for Warwick.

In the under-9 final, Vasco da Gama defeated Bermuda High School for Girls Yellow 3-2 in sudden death penalties after the match ended 0-0. Maya Brown netted the winning spot-kick for Vasco, who were fielding an under-9 girls team for the first time in the tournament.

Bermuda Under-17 goalkeeper Curtis Jackson Jr was the star of the show for Warwick, defeating North Village 2-1 on penalties in the boys’ under-15 title decider. Jackson denied Village twice from 12 yards before converting the winning penalty.

Warwick led for the better part of the encounter through Qash Lambert’s goal. Centre back Nazri Butterfield struck late for Village, resulting in the match being decided on penalties.

Max Kimberly, the Warwick captain, was pleased to be a champion in his last year of playing in the Kappa Classic.

“I've been playing in this tournament from a young age. For me to win it in my final year is just amazing,” the 15-year-old said.

“I was a runner-up in the under-9, that’s the closest I had come to being a champion. It was a bit of an interesting weekend with all the changes in the schedule, but it’s so good to win it in the end.”

There was heartbreak for PHC Blacks in the under-13 boys final when they went down 3-2 on penalties to Somerset Trojans Red. Dunstan De-Sa, who officiated his first Premier Division match last Sunday at Wellington Oval, showed that he is an equally capable footballer.

De-Sa conceded only one goal the whole tournament. He was beaten by Trojans captain Russon Bailey, who equalised after Chase Simmons had given PHC the lead earlier.

However, the 13-year-old De-Sa could not do anything to stop Ryley Martin, Darien Lambert and Henrik McIntosh from converting their penalties.

PHC Blacks defeated Dandy Town 3-0 in the under-9 boys. In the under-11, Village Red triumphed 7-6 on penalties over Dandy Town Browns following a 1-1 stalemate.

Somerset Reds were 3-2 victorious against PHC Blacks in the under-13 boys final. The fixture had concluded 1-1 in regulation time.

Nigel Burgess, the Kappa Classic co-chairman, spoke of how they tackled the difficulties brought by having Saturday wiped out.

“It was the time in our history that we've lost a full day of games,” he said. “Luckily, we were able to come up with a solution for us to complete the tournament.

“We really appreciate the effort from the teams, players and the fans for believing in us. They assisted us in making sure the tournament is successful by completing the unfinished matches from Saturday, and then our normal schedule for Sunday.”

“We were able to deal with the challenges that were presented to us. I’m extremely proud of my team, we were ready for the start of the matches at 7am on Sunday.

“We worked tirelessly to revise the schedule to get in all the matches played on Sunday.”

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