NMIFA provides sparks at the park

Plenty of players, parents, and coaches got their kicks over the weekend as the Northern Mariana Islands Football (Soccer) Association hosted its yearend tournament as teams of top playmakers, goal scorers, and net minders from all five divisions rumbled across the fields of American Memorial Park to determine the pitch powers once and for all.

Poor weather proved little deterrent to the nearly 340 players in the event at the Garapan grassland, as kids of all ages and talent stages put on their game face and ran all over the place.

The weekend action among the 7-8-year-olds was incredible as Shirley’s served up wins over Laolao Bay Golf Resort and Saipan Grand Hotel to open the competition, while the little nuggets of Church’s Chicken started the day with a win over Triple J and took their future in their hands by beating Saipan Grand.

Both teams roared into the super-sized match-up between the fastfood footballers, but Church’s Chicken won the finger lickin’ finals with a 4-3 victory over Shirley’s.

The debate over the top team in the11-12-year-old division was finally put to bed as PTI disconnected the Robert Torres Law squad, 2-0, on the grassy Garapan plains thanks to the deadly legs of Lucas Knecht who found the net with only minutes left to play in the game.

PTI dialed up the first tournament championship in its history when the long-distance squad made the Robert Torres Law defense rest.

The 13-18 score wrapped up their tournament as well on Sunday night as Century Insurance indemnified the PTI Dolphins with a 4-1 adjustment a stone’s throw away from Micro Beach.

Century Insurance scored a pair of victories on Saturday, including a 4-3 match in the morning and lopsided 5-1 match in the afternoon before pounding PTI in the finals on Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday, the Saipan Tribune reported that Fred’s Pizza’s pint-sized pepperonis blinded Marianas Eye Institute, 5-2, and smacked the Siheky out of the Pacific Islands Club team, 5-2, to take the 5-6-year-old division crown.

While Fred’s Pizza was a tough team to beat, PIC actually applied its special cause to emerge as the champs of the division with the 5-2 win over the Garapan-based dough twirlers, much to the chagrin of coach John Aldrich.