True North Mafia shows mastery of SEDA league

True North Mafia players receive their championship trophies for topping the A+ Division of the 2021-2022 Saipan Electronic Darts Association Bud Light Dart League during the awards banquet last Saturday at The Magellan of the Pacific Islands Club Saipan.(MARK RABAGO)

True North Mafia proved it was definitely the real OG in the A+ Division of the 2021-2022 Saipan Electronic Darts Association Bud Light Dart League that held its awards banquet last Saturday at The Magellan of the Pacific Islands Club Saipan.

The team finished tied with 6JMS Pythons with a 162-144 win-loss record after the season, but gave their opponents an offer it couldn’t refuse in the tiebreaker to win the premier division of the league. In the race to nine games, True North Mafia took down 6JMS Pythons, 9-5.

Team captain Ray “Udas” Cepeda attributed True North Mafia’s success in their recent campaign to his fellow players’ commitment to the team and their unrivaled chemistry.

“Commitment and just playing by having fun…All of them are good and all of us have one heart,” he told Saipan Tribune.

The A+ Division title capped a meteoric rise for True North Mafia. Prior to moving up to the unofficial masters division of SEDA, the team had won championships in the A, B, and C divisions as well as in the inter-government league.

“This is our first time to win in the ‘masters’ league. It’s only our second season in the ‘masters’ and last season we finished third place. The good thing about my players is that they never get really mad, win or lose,” said Cepeda, who thanked their sponsoring sports bar, True North in Garapan for supporting them the entire season.

The rest of the True North Mafia team is made up of Jayson John, Alfred Hocog, Joker Camacho, Patrick “Tako” Taitano, and Derrick Ayuyu.

Finishing third after True North Mafia and 6JMS Pythons was the latter’s sister team, 6JMS Thunder Darts.

In the A Division, 6JMS Drunker Dragons breathed fire and won with a 195-140 record, followed by 6JMS Thunder Darts (191-149) and Jonny’s Ridin’ Darty (168-115) for second and third place, respectively. The champion 6JMS Drunker Dragons are led by skipper Raymond “Yatz” Naluz with Tony “The Tiger” Castro, Ronald Doria, Kenneth “Kenpatchi” Kaneshi, Chris “CupCake” Omnes, and Gigi “Badong” Gatmaitan as teammates.

True North CUC Power Generation surged to the championship of the Inter-Government League with its 130-95 win-loss ranking. It was followed by 6JMS CNMI Guardians (117-108) and True North Dart Magic (115-110). Patrick “Tako” Taitano is the team captain of True North CUC Power Generation and the rest of the players are Ray “Udas” Cepeda, Joe Muña, Dexter Rabauliman, Jess “Pinatubo” Villar, and Joker Camacho.

Results of the C Division, Tuesday B Division, Flame Tree B Division, and Fanihi B Division will be published in tomorrow’s issue of Saipan Tribune.
The Saipan Electronic Darts Association as well as the Saipan Billiards Association is managed by Pacific Amusement with the help of MARPAC, Bud Light, and Budweiser.