National University-Nazareth School and De La Salle-Zobel opened the second round of the UAAP Season 82 High School Boys’ Football Tournament with routs, Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.
The Bullpups took their revenge on University of Santo Tomas with a 4-0 romp; meanwhile, the Junior Green Booters repeated over Ateneo High Scool, this time with a 5-0 decimation.
Eldrin Madrid drove in two goals in the second half to completely extinguish the Junior Golden Booters. The forward first raised the scoreline to 3-0 in the 53rd minute. He then hammered the final nail of the coffin in the 82nd minute.
Earlier, Earl Piñero and Fidel Machon struck for NU-NS in the first period to lead at the break, 2-0. The two picked up goals in the 23rd, then added time of the said half.
The Bullpups zoomed to seven points with their win, while keeping the Golden Booters at four points.
On the other hand, just two minutes from the start of the second period, Paolo Go took advantage of a rare lapse by Ateneo goalkeeper Artuz Cezar to put La Salle on the board at 1-0.
Go’s goal fuelled the Junior Green Booters to consistently attack the defense of the Eaglets. They eventually added four more, with Jacob Pena III scoring a screamer from long range in the 87th minute to punctuate the route.
“I just said you need to play, you need the three points. Hopefully, it’s a good start in the second round. Let’s see what happens in the next game,” head coach Hans Peter-Smit shared on how he motivated his wards for this crucial match.
Rafael Aldeguer, Angelo Escario, and Adri Caraig all found the back of the net before that Escario strike.
The win puts La Salle back in fourth place with six points — just a point behind Ateneo and NU-NS.
Prior to the DLSZ and AHS game, the student-booters gathered at centerfield to pay tribute to the late Kobe Bryant.
Ateneo High and NU-NS will face each other on Sunday, February 2 at 1:30 p.m. Meanwhile, Far Eastern University-Diliman will return to action when it battles UST in the following match at 4 p.m.
