by Jennifer Dias
NAVI MUMBAI, OCT 8, 2018: Don Bosco Senior Secondary School, Nerul outplayed Army Public School, Colaba, 7-6 on penalties in the final of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) football cluster held at All Saints High School, Bhiwandi from October 2 to 6.
The win helped the team qualify for the CBSE Nationals to be held at Haryana. The final was closely contested and the end of regulation time saw the scores tied, without scoring. Alex Antony of standard 10 emerged the hero of the match.
The team reached the finals afte
r wins over Alphonsa School, Wardha 2-0, Army Public School, Pune 5-3, St. Aloysius School, Yavatmal 6-0, quarterfinals against New Horizon School, Panvel 2-0 and semifinals against Ryan International School, Sanpada 3-0.
CBSE schools from all over Maharashtra and Goa participated in the football clusters tournament. When asked about his frame of mind during the shootout, Antony said, “I was confident that my team would score every goal in the penalty and I wanted to make sure that I put in my best to save the ball from entering the goal post. All the months of hard work gave us positive results.”
Father Donald Fernandez, Principal congratulated the students on their performance. “They made us proud, their hard work paid off,” he said.
