By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Dominance at its finest.
Facing the top-seeded University of Santo Tomas (UST) squad in the UAAP Season 86 High School boys football finals, the Far Eastern University (FEU)-Diliman took down the no. 1 seed in a convincing fashion, sweeping them in the championship match, 3-0, on February 29, 2024, at the UP Football Stadium.
With the commanding victory, the boys from FEU-D just nabbed its 12th straight championship title, extending their reign as the kings of the UAAP HS football tournament for more than a decade.
Being in the same position of having the chance to bag another championship title will always be never new for FEU-D. Despite facing the no. 1 team in the league, the more experienced boys wearing the green and gold came out firing from all cylinders and picked up where they left off after finishing the second round of eliminations with a resounding result.
Kian Niu drew first blood for FEU-D after tallying the first goal of the game at the 18th-minute mark to quickly put the pressure on UST.
Just when FEU-D thought they could stomp over UST, the first-time finalists played a more disciplined defensive game that neutralized the latter’s scoring prowess in the remaining minutes of the first half.
However, FEU-D turned on the jets at the start of the second half and doubled their lead in the 53rd minute.
After Niu’s score in the first half, Theo Libarnes added another one for FEU-D that helped them take a comfortable 2-0 advantage.
UST had a chance after a clear ball in the midfield but FEU-D was able to intercept their attack near the goal area. After the sequence, the men in green reset their attack which led to another long stretch of possession.
With only 12 minutes remaining in the championship game, FEU-D sent the earl fatal blow courtesy of substitute Jacob Keleghan, for their third goal of the finals.
