By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
As the buzzer sounded, the men in black jumped and celebrated their victory against the defending champions.
After a very physical match, the Ceres-Negros FC was crowned as the 2019 Copa Paulino Alcantara Cup champions, dethroning Kaya FC Iloilo in a tightly contested match, 2-1.
It was anybody’s game as Kaya FC was seeking to complete a comeback after trailing by 2-0 then managed to score one from Kenshiro Daniels in the 85th minute.
Kaya had a chance to equalize a minute after their first conversion but Daniels’ free-kick went off the post and was saved.
The rivalry match started the usual way, as both teams pushed the tempo with their high-octane engagements but their respective backline defenses had an exceptional display of reading the ball.
Kaya had two solid attempts in under 30 minutes courtesy of Jovin Bedic and Daniels but was saved by the keeper, keeping the pressure on against Ceres.
Ceres then drew first blood after a beautiful assist by James Younghusband for Robert Lopez Mendy.
Mendy then again helped his team score another goal in the 68th mark after feeding Tristan Robles in the left flank.
Kaya was gunning for an equalizer but fell short, with 5 minutes left to operate.
With the result, Ceres completes a sweep against Kaya FC in the entire 2019 Philippines Football League (PFL).
