This is for Mom - Charlemont dedicates Ben Francis title to the deceased mother of captain

Kavi Meeks coach of Charlemont High School said his side is dedicating yesterday's historic ISSA/WATA Ben Francis Cup win to the mother of team captain Marlon Martin who was laid to rest on Saturday.

"She wasn't really sick it's just asthma. She came to a lot of the games earlier in the season. She came to a match one week and the other week she died out of the blues. We are happy we were able to do this (win) for her," said Meeks

"There are some players in the team that come from the same area as Martin and were close to him and his mother. So it didn't just affected him but also five other players, four of which were starters," he added.

Meeks noted that Martin mother's passing really affected the team but is happy to see them pull through and get the job done.

"To be honest the passing of his mom really affected us because he was basically the driving force of the team. He was not able to play the way he used to play for us. The players on the field also fed off his energy and he was not able to deliver for us in those critical games in the daCosta Cup quarterfinals and we just lost our way," said Meeks

LEVEL OF COMFORT

"We managed to get him back to some level of comfort and played and deliver in the Ben Francis despite not at his best. As a coaching staff we understand and support him and we are grateful for what he has done for the team this season," he added.

Yesterday's 3-1 win over Petersfield at the Juici Patties Park saw Charlemont pick up their first ever schoolboy football title.

Charlemont went into yesterday's play with a 2-0 lead from last Friday when rain halted play at the end of the first-half. Deron Wildman (14th and Howard Baker (17th) were the goalscorers.

Despite coming under immense pressure from Petersfield early in the second half, Charlemont was steadfast in defence. Peters, who had to do something to try cut the deficit, pushed a number of players forward but that proved costly as their backline was left wide opened as Wildman added his second goal of the match in the 67th minute.

Substitute Dujon Bartley pulled one back for the Westmoreland based team in 74th minute But it was a mere formality as Charlemont did well to manage the remaining 16 minutes.