?Who dah yo pa now?? That?s what Juventus off-the-bench sparkplug Dean Flowers displayed on the tee-shirt he wore under the Juventus colors after Saturday night?s 1-nil championship victory over Sagitun at the Michael Ashcroft Stadium in Independence. This was a matter of who was hungrier for the win. Throughout the match it appeared, and eventually became a reality, that Juventus wanted it more than Sagitun.

Without second guessing the Sagitun powers that be involved in fielding their eleven, the initial lineup presented at game time would have had Sagitun faithful scratching their heads in amazement, wondering what was the reasoning behind Elroy Kuylen, the BPFL?s leading striker, playing defensively rather than his usual aggression up top. Kuylen played hard defense – so hard that he clashed with Juventus? Donnie Tun in the first two minutes of the match, causing Donnie to come up limping.

First real threat came six minutes in, when Sagitun?s Orlando ?Leach? Jimenez unloaded from inside the eighteen but the ball?s wetness caused it to slice away from the intended target. Four minutes later, Sagitun?s captain and sweeper, Hilberto ?Hilly? Muschamp, had to ride Christopher Hendricks off the ball, preventing a dangerous intrusion into Sagitun?s territory from becoming lethal. The next threat by Juventus was due to the flooded condition on the pitch when Sagitun defender, Peter ?Metro? Mariano, fell to the rain-soaked ground, allowing Christopher Hendricks to serve Deris ?Colombia? Benavides. Colombia went up the left side of the eighteen-yard box and took a shot that Darren Hinds was able to deflect.

In the twenty-second minute of the first half, it was Sagitun?s turn to go on the offensive with ?Leach? Jimenez getting a pass from Francis ?Carcass? Arzu. Leach took a shot that was slightly deflected by defender Nixon Centeno. Once again close, but no cigar.

The cigar got lit a minute later in the 23rdwhen ?Colombia? Benavides went inside the Sagitun eighteen-yard box and took a shot that Darren Hinds deflected. The deflection went to Christopher Hendricks and it was signed, sealed, and delivered into the back of the net.

Hilly Muschamp took up his offensive post into the middle and went to work. Hilly, after getting past the Juventus defense, found Carcass Arzu for an open shot in the 30thminute. Instead of taking the shot Arzu decided to pass it off for the assist. By that time, the defenders had regrouped and cleared it away.

After that it was all Juventus until the 41stminute when Mark ?Kelo? Leslie trekked his way through the mud and water to find Leach Jimenez slipping and sliding but able to get off a good shot that Charlie Slusher managed to cover up for the save. On the very next play, a ball had Juventus goal written all over it, when Darren Hinds misread a bouncing ball that Oliver ?Lionheart? Hendricks was able to intercept, taking a serious shot that hit the upright and went out of bounds.

In the second half, whatever was supposed to go wrong for Juventus came in the 17thminute when regular season best midfielder award recipient, Deris ?Colombia? Benavides, was ejected for an attack from behind against ?Kelo? Leslie. Colombia was shown an instant red card and sent to the showers. A minute later, Sagitun was awarded a penalty after Kevin ?K.P.? Pelayo was called for a phantom foul inside the box against Hilly Muschamp. Now here is where the ?believe it or not? could be applied: Peter ?Metro? Mariano was called to take the penalty, leaving Leach Jimenez, Robert Muschamp, Elroy Kuylen, Carcass Arzu and several other Sagitun strikers who could have been called upon to take the shot. ?Metro?s? kick went far left, missing the entire goal.

Donnie Tun, who had earlier received a yellow, went up to referee Victor Williams and said, ?Justice is served; they missed.? Williams shows Tun the red and he was gone. Raul Celis also got carded with a yellow and he had to be restrained by his teammates to avoid getting ejected. But now Juventus was left with only nine players, Sagitun with the full eleven.

The rain kept coming and so did Sagitun – coming down with everything they had to get the equalizer. The equalizer almost came in the 30thminute of the half when ?Kelo? Leslie took a shot that was deflected. The ball hit Charlie Slusher in the back and went off the field for a corner kick. In the closing minutes, at the 43rd,Hilly Muschamp came close for the equalizer but the ball went dead in the water.