ABC Football School landed two titles while Dandy Town have goalkeeper Anykio Williams to thank after winning the Under-11 final on penalties when the nineteenth Kappa Classic ended at the National Sports Centre yesterday.

ABC missed out on a third title when they reached the under-11 final only to come up against an impressive Williams who stood between them and victory after some outstanding saves in regulation period. He then saved two penalties to give Town a 2-1 victory in the last of the nine finals.

Williams, the shortest player in his team, stood tallest as ABC struck the crossbar and the post in the first half before he pushed another effort against the bar.

ABC did eventually open the scoring in the second half but Town equalised with a minute remaining to send the game into penalties. After Town’s first kick hit the crossbar, Williams saved the first ABC shot with his legs.

Both teams scored their next attempts before Town scored their second in the best-of-five kicks, leaving Williams to come good again with another save to secure their victory.

The win ended a losing streak for Town in the finals, having lost their first three finals yesterday. Devonshire Colts beat Town 2-0 in the under-17 final at the National Stadium earlier in the day with D’Andre Wainwright and K’Zhai Bailey scoring their goals in the second half. Town had Jahdee Wade sent off for dissent five minutes into the match.

Town’s misery continued with losses to ABC Black (2-1) in the under-13 final and St George’s in the under-15 final. Michael Outerbridge scored for ABC two minutes into the second half before Ahtaio Burgess equalised with a well-struck effort six minutes later.

ABC scored the winner three minutes after that when Jkai Berkeley found the net. “I’m really happy, this is my first time scoring in a Kappa final,” said the TN Tatem student. “I feel really good.

“This is my second time in a row playing in the final and playing the same team,” Berkeley added, referring to ABC’s 1-0 victory over Town in the under-12 final last year.

This year the organisers switched the age groups to odd years, with Town going down to St George’s Dark Blue in the under-15 final where Jamori Jones Tyrell netted the game’s only goal five minutes into the match when he neatly flicked Tre McCallan’s free kick into the bottom corner.

It was the first title for a St George’s team in the Kappa Classic, the Dark Blue side beating St George’s Light Blue 1-0 in the semi-finals. They were the only two teams St George’s fielded in the tournament, compared to nine teams by Somerset Cricket Club, 11 by PHC and BAA and ten by Dandy Town.

North Village Red won the under-7 boys’ final with an impressive 4-1 victory over Somerset Red. Solomon Salaam netted twice for Village Red after Ny’ori Dill’s shot in to the roof of the net on the turn opened the scoring after just two minutes.

Two minutes later Salaam drove home from close range to double the lead before Zydon Lightbourne Furbert pulled one back for Somerset a minute into the second half. Z’Ani Jennings extended the Village lead to 3-1 when he scored with a left-footed effort direct from a free kick. Salaam closed out the scoring five minutes fro the end.

In the girls’ divisions, Warwick Academy reached three finals and won the under-9s when they beat Cedars 3-2 on penalties after the match was goalless after regulation time. The high school went down 5-1 to B Pro in the under-11 final and then were stopped by BHS 5-4 on penalties in the under-13 final.

Ray Jones, the Kappa chairman, was pleased with the way the tournament ran after being extended to include matches on Thursday for the first time.

“It just proves how important this event is to the community,” said Jones, who saw the matches continue despite high winds and some showers on Saturday.

“We stress all the time that the weather will not stop this event. This year is probably the first time we’ve been really tested in relation to the weather, the temperature dropped down below 60 and we had gale-force winds pass through yesterday with showers.

“I’m really happy because even the people didn’t scatter, some ducked for some shelter but they stayed to support our young people. That proves to us that this event is very, very important to our community, showcasing our boys and girls.

“We finished on time today, even though we had penalty kicks in the semi-finals and finals. It proves we pretty much have this down to a science. We had 104 teams and 1,301 players.

“We haven’t set any limitations [on numbers] because the event is to embrace all young people. We always want to leave it open so that anyone who is eligible can participate.”

For the second year, Jones saw his Colts pick up another title. “I’m very proud of that group of Devonshire Colts players who have been with the club since they were 4 years old,” Jones said. “They won it now that they are on their way out of Kappa. As president of the club, I’m very proud.”