Week 8 is history, and there are now only 2 more weeks of regular season games remaining in the Premier League of Belize opening season, to determine which 2 teams from the North and which 2 from the South will make it to the big 4-team playoff round.

Police is the only team having already clinched a playoff spot with their 7th victory this past weekend; and San Pedro Seadogs and World FC from the North, and Paradise/Freedom Fighters and Hankook Verdes from the South are all definitely out of contention. The others remain in the scramble. (See standings below.)

This past Saturday night at the Norman Broaster Stadium, Jaziz Wicab put San Felipe Barcelona up early at the 4th minute against home-standing Belize Defence Force; but David Trapp knotted it up at the 48th minute from the penalty spot for BDF, and the indomitable Erwin "Bird" Flores got the game winner at the 90th minute, to make it 2-1, BDF.

In the other Saturday night match, Police United dropped visiting Belmopan Bandits, 3-0, at the MCC with goals from Lennox "Criminal" Castillo (6 min) and Trevor "Burger" Lennan (53 and 89 min). With their All Belize goalie Woodrow West serving a suspension, the Bandits suffered from an early error from their rookie goalie Orlando Galdamez, who came out from his goal but was beaten to a run-through ball by Police's Andres Makin, Jr. on the left side. Andres' center was cooled down in traffic by Criminal, who moved one defender before placing the ball in the right corner for the first goal of the game. Belmopan, with "Kelo" Leslie, Gilbert Swaso and Kareem Westby in midfield, was no pushover, and Police goalie Japhet Young was outstanding in goal, maintaining his shutout streak in games he has tended so far this season. Burger Lennan was outstanding in midfield for Police, and has now found the "golden" touch, splitting two defenders to get his head on a free kick center by Benard Linares for his first goal, and making one of his patented solo runs past the defence to tally the other.

It was a last minute change of venue for the F.C. Belize - San Pedro Seadogs encounter, which was moved from the MCC Grounds to the San Pedro Municipal Stadium, where they played to a scoreless draw on Sunday afternoon.

Also on Sunday, Juventus was at home at the People's Stadium where they were held scoreless in first half by visiting cellar dwellers World FC from Cayo. But in 2nd half it was all Juventus, with goals coming from Freddy Tun (57 min), Ernell Pott (83 min) and Dean Flowers (86 min) for the 3-0 final, Juventus over World FC.

Meanwhile, out west at the Norman Broaster Stadium, San Ignacio United kept their playoff hopes alive with a 2-1 win over Hankook Verdes. Victor Morales (39 min) and Ismael "John Trapp" Thompson (59 min) shook the net for San Ignacio United, while the sole tally for Hankook Verdes was by Miguel Aguilar (77 min).

The final Sunday game was down south at the Toledo Union Field, where home-standing Paradise/Freedom Fighters stood firm, holding playoff contenders Placencia Assassins to a 1-1 stalemate. Rollin Burgess put the visiting Assassins ahead early at the 10th minute, but the Freedom Fighters came back with a goal from Tarrell Flores at the 78th minute to salvage the 1-1 draw.

Week 9 schedule:

Thursday, April 5
7:00 p.m. - Hankook Verdes vs Paradise/Freedom Fighters - Marshalleck Stadium

Saturday, April 7
7:30 p.m. - San Ignacio United FC vs Police United - Norman Broaster Stadium

Sunday, April 8
3:00 p.m. - San Pedro Seadogs vs Juventus - San Pedro Municipal Stadium
3:30 p.m. - San Felipe Barcelona vs World FC - San Felipe Football Field
4:00 p.m. - Belize Defence Force vs F.C. Belize - Norman Broaster Stadium
4:00 p.m. - Placencia Assassins FC vs Belmopan Bandits - Placencia Football Field

Amandala