BAA and ABC Valencia won two titles each as the eighteenth Kappa Classic ended yesterday with seven finals at the North Field, National Sports Centre.

Valencia retained their under-13 girls title with a win on penalties over Bermuda High School, otherwise new champions were crowned in each category, including in the newly introduced under-16s where Dandy Town beat PHC Zebras on penalties after the game finished 2-2 in regulation time.

Valencia also won the under-12 boys with a 1-0 win over Town thanks to a goal from Louie Hammond.

BAA took the under-10 and under-14 titles, beating defending champions Hamilton Parish Maroon in the under-10 final, the penultimate final of the day, as BAA came from a goal down to win 2-1.

Jutorre Burgess gave Parish the lead ten minutes into the first half. A minute later Parish had the chance to wrap up the victory when they were awarded a penalty but goalkeeper Skyler Young saved the spot kick.

Cameron McNeil, the BAA captain, equalised when he scored from a free kick before half-time.

Young also made a couple of good saves in the second half for BAA before they netted the winning goal in the final minute when Ah’najae Saunders scored from a corner.

BAA also won the under-14 division with a 3-0 win over Somerset Red as Kymani McNeil netted all three goals in the second half with some clinical left-footed finishing.

Warwick Academy Honeybears won the under-11 girls when they beat Bermuda High School 1-0.

The three-day event had a fitting finale in the under-8 division yesterday with Devonshire Colts Orange beating Dandy Town Brown 3-2 on penalty kicks after coming back from 2-0 down during the two, 15-minute halves.

Ray Jones, the new chairman of the Kappa Classic, could not contain his excitement as his team Colts picked up a first Kappa title in a most dramatic fashion.

Iyvon Smith gave Town the lead midway through the first half before netting a second two minutes into the second half when he scored on the rebound after the goalkeeper parried a free kick. Kenori Simons came close to sealing the win for Town when his shot from an angle hit the far post.

Colts began their fightback with a wonderful first-time hook shot over the goalkeeper by Logan Viera after running onto a ball towards the edge of the box. Three minutes later Joseph Carolo drove a free kick into the roof of the net, after Viera was fouled outside the box.

Jones said it was a final worth waiting for. “We purposefully rearranged the order [of the finals] with the oldest down to the youngest, because it is not just the talent they have but the spirit they have is so pure, just enjoying the match,” Jones said.

“Anyone who hung around that long, it was worth hanging around for.

“To go into the half 2-0 down and then all of a sudden a wonder goal to put them back in the match and then to follow up with the equaliser with a bit of skill as well. Then, to finish with penalties — you had it all.

“I’m happy for my club, I’m being a little bias, but it was our very first Kappa trophy lifted in any division so as the president I’m very, very happy with the direction our programme is going in.

“It’s built on our crest, sportsmanship, character and unity, and the Kappa Tournament fits with that model as well. Plus, this is my first time as chairman of the Kappa Classic.”

There were other firsts as well. It was the first time three venues, North Field, BFA Field and South Field, were used at the same time.

There was also live streaming of the finals and a souvenir programme, featuring two “Kappa Legends” — professional players Zeiko Lewis and Rai Simons — who played for Dandy Town and North Village in the tournament not that long ago.

This year overseas teams were not involved but there were still some 1,047 players representing the 86 teams.

“It is growing, this year we added the under-16 age group because as community achievers we thought it would only be right to help to highlight that age group as it seems to be a dying in football,” Jones said.

“Lets be honest, society has its thoughts about that age group and we provided this positive tournament and there was nothing negative.

“We achieved our goal in bringing them on board.

“We went live and I was receiving text messages from England and the United States, saying it was clear and they really enjoyed it.

“We have a lot of Bermudians who live abroad, this tournament has been around for 18 years, they marked it on their calendar and said it was like being back home today.

“Even though we didn’t have overseas teams we made it global in that the finals were streamed.”

Craig Tyrrell, another Kappa member, was pleased the tournament went smoothly over the three days, as the Bermuda Football Association made allowances for the event by clearing the schedule except for Devonshire Cougars’ Premier Division match against Boulevard, which started at 5pm to allow referees to volunteer their time to the Kappa Classic.

“We have a committee of eight persons and 35 members on our books and it takes a lot of hands to put all this together,” Tyrrell said.

“We’ll take the next month off and then think about how we’re going to plan for the event next year.

“Eighteen years is no small feat. Over the years we’ve worked with the Bermuda Football Association and as you know there is a shortage of referees. They recognised the importance of this particular event and wanted to make sure this weekend was clear and if we needed additional resources they provided it for us.

“For the first time we operated on three fields with under-12 games played at the BFA Field on the two days. We have chosen to focus on the young people and this tournament is about promoting participation, decorum and good sportsmanship.”