THEY WAITED ALMOST 30 years for this moment.And the extra 30 minutes still felt like an eternity for West Terrace.It took about two hours to end 28 years of primary school football futility but Channel Enterprises West Terrace finally got over the hump, overcoming Zone 2 rivals St Stephen’s 4-3 on extended penalty kicks for their first ever BICO title in an enthralling final at the National Stadium yesterday.Redemption couldn’t have come any sweeter for the Strike Force, who finished second behind their long-time adversaries in group play after also losing out to St Stephen’s in the primary school athletics championships just three months ago.DramaAnd the margins couldn’t be any more agonising – a last race victory for Stephen’s, followed by a last-minute 1-0 West Terrace loss.So it was only fitting that neither 40 minutes of regulation, two extra periods nor 13 previous penalty kicks were enough to separate the two riveting rivals.Adding to the drama was the fact that it was Rivaldo Leacock – the star of St Stephen’s athletics success – whose penalty kick was turned back by opposing custodian Rasheed Williams.That set the stage for hero Rashaad Crichlow, who calmly buried the 14th penalty of the shoot-out to send the Westbury faithful into a frenzy and on to the field.Earlier, St Stephen’s nearly pulled off their customary role of spoiler for the third time in three months after overcoming an early 1-0 deficit to take a 2-1 lead just moments away from the end of the second extra period.But Micah Boyce pounced on Rojay-Nathan Greenidge’s muffed attempt to gather a loose ball in front the bars and hit past the hapless custodian.It was the second defensive blunder in the span of a minute, following West Terrace’s failure to clear a routine ball in their half of the field. The resulting through-ball left Elijah Downey unmarked at the far post but Williams denied him, only for Ramario Goodridge to slot home the rebound.Goodridge’s goal was almost part of the unlikeliest of comebacks following Shane Jordan’s spectacular strike in the third minute that put West Terrace in the driver’s seat.Deftly taking out his marker on the right wing, Jordan curled in a long-range strike over Greenidge at the far post before several spectators had even settled into their seats.TempoHis goal was merely the highlight of West Terrace’s first-half dominance, in which St Stephen’s crafty Elijah Downey and his prolific captain Jade Chandler were shut out of the early goings.However, the two picked up the tempo to start the second half, leading to Chandler bringing out the best in Williams on a long-range strike that forced West Terrace’s goalie to punch the ball over the goal bar.It was Downey who eventually got St Stephen’s back in the contest though, expertly scoring a penalty ten minutes from stoppage time after an opposing defender handled one of Chandler’s threatening crosses into the area.But if they thought they got the best of Williams earlier, St Stephen’s certainly saw him at his sublime finest in the penalty shoot-out, in which he denied Kaniel Rowe on the third penalty before making the decisive finger-tip save on Leacock ten shots later.“I knew he had another one in him,” said triumphant coach Roderick Harmon of Williams’ efforts. “I feel happy for him and our boys but I always knew we would win this one.“I told the opposing coach that he got lucky with the last victory so today was going to be our day.”Earlier, Ellerton Primary took out Charles F. Broome and St Joseph to take the first-ever penalty kick competition.The fans had no clue they would be treated to another championship-winning penalty shoot-out just two hours later.
