Central Visayas ends campaign with elementary football gold (Lands 5th place overall in 64th Palaro)

CEBU, Philippines — Central Visayas sealed its campaign with a golden performance at the pitch as the host region settled for fifth place overall at the end of the 64th Palarong Pambansa on Tuesday, July 16.

Powered by players from Don Bosco Technical College (DBTC)-Cebu, Region VII completed a 3-0 shutout of Calabarzon in their lopsided final duel at the Dynamic Herb-Borromeo Sports Complex along the South Road Properties to snare the gold medal in elementary boys football event of the multi-event gathering for the best grade school athletes across the country.

Though it was a collective effort, Mateo Empleo shined the brightest among the triumphant Bosconians after drilling in back-to-back goals that set the stage for Central Visayas whitewash of the visitors from Region IV-A.

Empleo broke the ice of match with a long shot out of a half volley late in the first half, and then scored on a header at the 30th.

Calabarzon made repeated attempts to retaliate by was negated by Don Bosco’s goal keeper Markus Gavril Palacio.

Even if the time was already running out, Zachary Fernandez made sure to contribute for the team by hitting a goal with just a few minutes before the end of the game.

“I’m very happy, thanked God! The boys did really well. Mas kusog gani tong Western Visayas yesterday in the semifinals and we did it so I also expected them to perform well,” said coach Glenn Ramos.

Coming from the host city was also a motivation for the Bosconians to win the crown.

“I told the boys last night, we have to win this one. We are the host and we want to show to the Cebuano community that we are No.1 and we did it!” Ramos added.

In the overall standings, Central Visayas landed at fifth spot with a 29-gold, 42-silver, 39-bronze medal harvest.

The powerhouse National Capital Region (NCR) stayed as champion for the 17th straight editions with 98 golds, 66 silvers, and 74 bronzes.

Calabarzon was a distant second with a 57-51-53 haul,followed by Western Visayas at No. 3 with 56-41-41 and Davao Region at the fourth with 32-25-35.

Rounding up the top 10 were Central Luzon (25-37-45), Eastern Visayas (18-14-22), Socsksargen (17-23-31), Northern Mindanao (14-27-43) and Bicol Region (14-15-20). — (FREEMAN)