Caledon SC U14 boys bring home indoor Ontario cup 

By Robert Belardi 

There's nothing more grueling in soccer than penalty kicks. 

That's what it was going to take to decide a winner between Caledon SC and Toronto Cherry Beach Red Wolves. It was all going to come down to the spot and it was going to come down to who made the first error. 

For Caledon, the first three spot kicks had gone in. Dominic Prempeh, Mats Olsson and Hiren Mistry had done their jobs. Then along came #99 for Cherry Beach. Caledon SC goalkeeper Justin Merola, read him like a book and dove to his left-hand side to make the stop. 

Remi Emini sealed the next penalty for Caledon. It was up to Cherry Beach's #8 to keep the opposition alive. 

“He put it high, off the crossbar. It was just a crazy experience, getting an opportunity to play in this tournament and actually coming through winning our games and showing what we're capable of,” Merola said. 

“I give thanks to my coaches. Coach Mike (Knight), coach Jeremy (Dixon), coach Marcais (Branch) and coach Emmanuel (Prempeh). They were always great coaches. They helped us throughout the whole tournament. Taught us what we know now and the team too. Great team. Love playing with them. Have great bonds with them. Crazy experience overall.” 

Caledon SC were crowned champions of the 2022 Ontario Indoor Cup. 

The tournament took place between last Saturday and Sunday.

Caledon SC won all three of their games on Saturday and, of course, won both of their tilts on Sunday. The club scored 14 goals forward with only two against. A wonderful feat and a score differential worthy of a championship team. 

Each game prior to the final consisted of two, 20-minute halves. The final consisted of 25-minute halves. 

Over the course of this tough tournament and up against some excellent clubs, this experience was a learning curve for both the players and the coaches. There were plenty of obstacles to deal with, especially the match format of the whole tournament. 

“Some of the challenges the boys faced in this tournament is five-versus-five or six-versus-five, they've never played a competition like that. They've never played a small game like this before,” said assistant coach Emmanuel Prempeh. 

“Myself and a couple of the other coaches, have coached older age groups so we have had that experience. We had two teams, one of our teams already played in the Ontario Cup (last summer) and were eliminated. But, the experience those players gained, they were able to share that with the other team. The experience that us coaches gained after that first round, we were also able to make some adjustments even as simple as having the boys stretch after every game.” 

This victory marks the first Ontario Cup for the U14 boys coaching staff and players. Moving forward, the group is looking into the Umbro Top Rated Showcase although nothing is confirmed. The club is also looking into potentially bringing the boys down to New Jersey for a tournament. 

The Citizen, sends their congratulations to the rest of the group: Markus John Nasato, Stephen Hall, Abhijeet Singh Kaler, Michael Foti, Noah Cserti, Darnell Green, Tejveer Singh Sohal, Joshua Vargas and Justin Knight.