MSSA inter-school football: St Xavier’s humiliated

It’s always a matter of pride to play for one’s country, and that too at the age of 14. It was a dream come true for Mumbai’s Aurochit Patnaik when he represented India in the Asian Football Confederation’s (AFC) U-14 Championship held at Iran in May 2010.

This Bombay Scottish High School student got the distinction of being the only boy to be selected from the state of Maharashtra.
Aurochit’s play helped India regain the third position in the Asian Championship. The right winger was instrumental in assisting four goals and was the proud member of team India, which was rated the best trained team. His performance in the match against Maldives was appreciated by many as he assisted on three occasions helping India win 5-1.

Aurochit also represented Maharashtra in the AIFF’s inter-state football festival at Jamshedpur in 2009. His outstanding performance at the state level helped him grab a place in the national team. A hardcore Spanish fan, it was a perfect year for Aurochit with Spain lifting this year’s world cup. Aurochit’s schoolmate, Nipun Chauhan, is yet another upcoming footballer from Scottish. Aurochit represented Maharashtra in the Mir Iqbal Football tournament and was the second top goal scorer of his team with 11 goals to his account. A class 10 student, Nipun leads his school’s under-16 team and has been playing the MSSA tournament from the age of 7. Also, this striker has the unique distinction of being the top goal scorer for his school for the last four years.

Both these youngsters proved their brilliance on field in their match against St Xavier’s ‘A’ (Fort). Such was the understanding between the two that they netted in two of the three goals in a span of eight minutes, which helped their school register second consecutive win in the MSSA inter-school football tournament held at Azad Maidan on Friday.

Just when it looked like the match was going to end in a draw, the Scottish boys pulled up their socks and scored three goals in quick succession.

Aurochit scored his first goal for the season while Nipun’s goal made him the top goal scorer for his school so far, for the fourth year in a row.

“They (Xavier’s) played a really good game. It was clearly visible that they were playing for a draw.  In the first half we played sloppy football. But in the last 15-20 minutes we found a group and we punished them by scoring three goals,” Nipun concluded.

At the whistle
Under-16 (1st div): Bombay Scottish ‘A’ (Mahim) bt St Xavier’s ‘A’ (Fort) 3-0; St Francis D’Assisi ‘A’ (Borivli) bt St Dominic Savio (Andheri) 2-0; Christ Church (Byculla) bt St Anne’s HS (Malad) 1-0; Cathedral & John (Fort) drew with St Stanislaus ‘A’ (Bandra) 1-1; Don Bosco ‘A’ (Matunga) bt O.L.P.S. (Chembur) 2-0; Campion (Cooperage) drew with St Mary’s SSC (Mazagaon) 1-1

Under-16 (2nd div): Jamnabai Narsee ‘A’ (Juhu) drew with Bombay Scottish ‘A’ (Powai) 0-0; Navy Children (Colaba) bt St Joseph (Colaba) 4-0

Under-14 (4th div): Gokuldham HS (Goregaon)
bt Mount Mary (Goregaon) 6-3; Ryan Int. (Malad) bt Lakshdham (Goregaon) 11-0; Dr S Radhakrishnan (Malad) bt St Thomas (Goregaon) 9-0; Infant Jesus (Malad) bt St John the Evangelist (Marol) 9-0; Gyan Kendra (Andheri) bt Hasanat (Andheri) 7-0; Hiranandani Foundation (Powai) bt Vissanji Academy (Andheri) 7-1.