Blaise of glory!

The St Blaise boys with their Div-IV trophy at the D’Assisi ground, Borivli, yesterday. Pic/Satej Shinde

Left winger Parth Kute, 15, is pleased with his contribution of scoring the match-winning goal which enabled St Blaise High School (Amboli) emerge champions by defeating St Aloysius High School (Bandra) 1-0 in the boys' under-16 Div-IV final of the MSSA inter-school football tournament at the St Francis D'Assisi High School ground, Borivli, on Wednesday.

"It's really nice to win a title in the final year of school. As a team we trained well under coaches George Bunch sir and Abner Fernandes sir . The hard work has paid off. Me and my teammates, Vihaan Kotian, Reuben D'Sa and Sumaid Shaikh, all missed quite a few chances. But, we are not upset as I finally managed to score the winning goal. Our goalkeeper Mayank Myakala also played well and made some superb saves to keep a clean sheet and that was inspiring," Parth told mid-day.

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The final was an evenly matched contest, and with both teams unable to find the net in the first half, the scores were locked goalless at the lemon break. On resumption, Parth struck the lone goal midway through the second half.

Earlier, Aditya Birla World Academy (Tardeo) easily defeated Holy Cross High School (Kurla) 5-2 in a high-scoring third-place encounter. Reyan Bafna opened the scoring before Aarav Gandhi scored two goals to increase the lead. Later, Ishan Makharia and Aadi Sogani struck one each to complete the victory. Holy Cross got their goals through Hamza Ansari and Mohin Manu.