By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The draw has been set and now it’s time to kick around the ball as the Bahamas Football Association moves its annual Samuel P. Haven National High School Soccer Nationals into its playoff and championship rounds this week.

BFA technical director Bruce Swan conducted the draw yesterday at the BFA’s Beach Soccer facility at the foot of the Sir Sidney Poitier Bridge. He revealed that it was the first time the draw was done, which was similar to what FIFA does with its draw selection for their international events.

The teams participating came from the BFA’s preliminary competition that took place last week at the Roscoe A Davies Developmental Center at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex. They were drawn to see who will be matched against who in the semifinals, scheduled for Thursday at 4:30pm for the girls’ games, followed at 6pm for the boys.

The winners will advance to the finals set for Friday beginning at 4pm with the third-place matches, followed by the girls’ championship game and then concluding with the boys’ championship game.

An awards presentation will take place following the completion of each match on Friday.

Sandre Hobbs, the soccer coordinator for the Bahamas Association of Independent Secondary Schools, drew the names for the teams that will be matched up in the girls’ semifinals.

In the first match, Hobbs drew the CR Walker Knights as the home team against the Lyford Cay International Dragons.

In the other game, she drew the St Andrew’s Hurricanes as the home team against Grand Bahama’s Bishop Michael Eldon Warriors.

The boys’ draw was done by Varel Davis, the president of the Government Secondary Schools Sports Association. Her first selection for the boys’ opener was the Anatol Rodgers Timberwolves, who will be the home team against the Lyford Cay International Dragons. The second game she drew had Windsor High as the home team against the Lucayan International Buccaneers.

The team representatives in attendance for the draw are all eager to get their teams on the pitch to play on Thursday.

Craig Massie, the athletic director at the Lyford Cay International School, said this is the highlight of their season for their Dragons and they intend to let it all out on Thursday in their girls’ match-up against CR Walker and the boys’ match-up against Anatol Rodgers.

“It’s always great to take on the top local high schools. Our boys played CR Walker last week and now it’s our girls team, so we’re looking forward to this match-up,” Massie said.

As for the boys, Massie said the “Timberwolves are bringing it this season and that would be a great test for our team, but we’re looking forward to a fantastic football match at the RALD.”

He thanked the Haven family and the BFA for continuing to host this prestigious event each year and for making this one a little more special with a professional drawing of the teams for the showdown.

Katie Roach, the athletic director at Windsor High School, said they were holding their breath that they didn’t get to draw against Anatol, but they are excited to face Lyford Cay International instead in their boys’ game.

“We came off a hard fought season during the BAISS season for both our junior boys and senior boys and so for this, we were able to select the best from both teams and we are now getting them ready to go up against the best of the best in the country,” she stated.

Roach too commended the BFA on the professional set up of the draw, noting that it’s just a reflection of how the sport is growing in the Bahamas and she’s hoping that they will be a part of the nationals in the future.

In her first year here as a physical education teacher and a coach for the Hurricanes girls’ soccer team, Marisa Mustard noted that St Andrew’s is more than prepared to compete against Bishop Michael Eldon.

“The girls fought really hard in the BAISS championships and I can imagine that the competition will go to the next level,” she predicted. “So I think it will be a challenge for them, but we are excited to see what they bring.”

She admitted that they were not sure who they would face in the semifinal, but she was glad to see how the BFA unfolded the draw and now it’s up to them to come out and perform.

While the focus has been placed on the Timberwolves boys’ team, Cleon Carnegie said his Anatol Rodgers boys team are just as thrilled to be in the mix with the rest of the teams.

“We try to play as exciting as possible, entertaining football,” said Carnegie, who revealed that they have been able to integrate the junior players onto the senior team to provide a cohesive unit every year.

“Now that we have the nucleus of the players on the senior team, it’s easier to coach them because I’ve known them for a while and they are doing good things. We are focusing on controlling our games. It’s not easy doing that every game, we are doing the best that we can.”

Carnegie admitted that there are some quality teams in the draw, including Lyford Cay International, the defending champions, so if they want to live up to everyone’s expectations, they have to beat the best to accomplish that goal.

He too praised the BFA for the manner in which they conducted the draw to determine the match-ups in the semifinals, which should bring more excitement going into the finals.