PAREF Southridge sent a clear message to the league that, despite a slow start in the UAAP Season 88 High School Boys’ Football Tournament, the Admirals remain one of the competition’s most dangerous teams — and that Francis Poticano is still a player to watch.
Thanks to Poticano’s clinical finish and a display of defensive resilience, Southridge pulled off a 1–0 upset over defending champion University of Santo Tomas on Saturday at the UP Diliman Football Stadium.
Poticano extended his scoring streak, following up Wednesday’s breakout performance against Claret School of Quezon City by finding the net for the second straight match. The Grade 11 standout broke the deadlock in the 66th minute, giving the Admirals a precious lead to protect.
UST, however, tried to mount a comeback, similar to its come-from-behind win over Far Eastern University-Diliman. But Southridge’s stubborn defending and off-target attempts from UST’s Golden Booters trio — Stan Biag, Xin Salanatin, and Andres Barabat — allowed the Admirals to hold on for the win.
“First of all, I would like to say a big thank you to God for giving us the strength, the power, and everything to come through the game,” said Southridge’s Ghanaian mentor Sam Bonney.
“Last week, I mentioned we would come back very strong and then try to make a statement. I think we did well. We thank the boys who executed the game plan. It worked, so I’m very, very happy for them.”
Meanwhile, Adamson University struck late to draw Ateneo de Manila University 1-1 in the opener. Then FEU-D edged De La Salle Zobel 2-0 to close the triple-header.
The results moved FEU-D back to the top of the standings with 12 points, followed by UST with 10, and La Salle in third with nine points.
Ateneo and Southridge sit fourth and fifth, respectively, with seven points, but the Blue Eagles’ plus-1 goal difference gives them the edge over the Admirals.
Adamson and Claret round out the standings in sixth and seventh places with three points each.
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
The first match of the triple-header saw Adamson end its first-round campaign by salvaging a draw against Ateneo. Baby Falcons captain Rian Solaiman scored a last-minute tap-in from a set piece in the 90+4th minute to secure Adamson’s third draw of the season.
Solaiman’s goal canceled out the Blue Eagles’ opener, scored by substitute striker Joaquin Goduco in the 74th minute.
After Adamson’s hard-fought draw, coach Darlton Digha had mixed feelings about the result.
“I think we deserved better,” said Digha. “I’m just honest about it (that) we deserved better, but that’s football. They scored a goal from our mistake, and you can’t complain about it. The boys showed their fighting spirit until the end, which is what I’m proud of.”
(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team
The final match of the day saw FEU-D bounce back from its UST loss last Wednesday by defeating La Salle with goals in each half. Left-winger Justin Madeja opened the scoring in the 38th minute, while substitute Sambher Abrenica sealed the win with a goal in the 90+5th minute.
La Salle, meanwhile, could only rue what might have been. Jayden Gayoso had a chance to score the opener in the 21st minute, but FEU-D goalkeeper Gianne Abara made a crucial save.
“Obviously, we learned from our loss against UST,” said FEU-D coach Jake Morallo. “We had to step up kase kailangan namin i-raise yung standard namin. We want to get this championship kaya kailangan namin baguhin after sa game sa UST. Kailangan i-set namin yung standard namin.”
The first round concludes this Tuesday amid Chinese New Year celebrations. Claret faces UST at 2:00 PM, Ateneo takes on FEU-D at 4:30 PM, and Southridge meets DLSZ in the nightcap at 7:00 PM.
