-Kelvin Omachonu 

The Independence Hall Freshers suffered an  8-0 drubbing in the hands of the stalites at the  Indy Hall Maracana on Friday. The Indy Freshers’ welcome kicked off on  Friday, and of course, one of the most anticipated events was the Stalites Vs  Freshers showdown. In years past, it has been an avenue for the  Staylites to enforce their superiority, as the game always ended in basketball-themed scorelines. Last year, it ended 8-1, the year before, it was an 11-2 demolition. However, the latest batch of freshmen coached by the current sports commissioner vowed to change the norm and cause an upset. 

The Freshers looked good in the opening embers, playing solid football.  Conjuring a few openings to score, but they were wasteful. Following the first five minutes on the clock, the stalites began to exert their expected dominance as they made very strong changes to the weak starting XI. 

They eventually opened the scoring through Solomon, who tapped in from close range in Ronaldo-esque fashion to make it 1-0. Minutes before the break, Pluto doubled the advantage to give a soft cushion heading into halftime. 

The freshers started the second half with the same energy as the first, but the gulf in quality was apparent. As underwhelming as the stalites were compared to previous years, the freshmen were uniquely abysmal. Despite their disjointed and uncoordinated play, the stalites were just too good for the freshmen. The new boys even had a golden opportunity to score into an empty net after some shambolic play from the stalite, but they fluffed their lines. Second-half goals from Oluwadara Tosin, Pluto, Tolu Oyewole, Jayeoba Samuel, Abiodun  Williams, and Ijimakinwa Kayode, who was head and shoulders above everyone on the afternoon sealed the 8-0 win for the staylites.