AFICO Striker-2 defeated three different rivals the past two Fridays en route to their sixth straight win and the league best 7-1 win/loss slate leading to the second round-robin in the continuation of “Hempel Dart Cup 2008” here. Led by Gary Terso, Chris Calalo, Ronald Galvan, Nonoy Coraza and Gary Tolentino, AFICO Striker-2 outlasted JAL Arrows and withstood the outstanding play of their ace player Jerry Roldan winning 9-6 in the first game. Coraza was outstanding in this match posting 3-1 the same output by Calalo, who also had a solid game. Galvan and Tolentino rounded up the score with 2-1 & 1-3 respectively. Roldan carried the battle for the losing Arrows who went undefeated with 4-0, the lack of support from his teammates cost them the match as both Greg Perias and Darlo Landingin managed to win only one game each. The Strikers showed a more balanced attack in halting the charging Bulleros in the second game on a 9-6 win. Tolentino rebounded winning 3 out of 4 while teammates Calalo, Galvan & Terso all recorded 2 wins each to complete the score. On the losing side, Bulleros' Mario Lorenzo carried much of the load with his 3-1 slate. However, without their ace darter Dodong Salas, it was evident that they were shorthanded in matching the firepower of the AFICO Striker-2. The following week's game between sister teams AFICO Striker-1 and 2 went to the wire in which the latter won via deciding 1,001-team match plays. Striker-1, the defending champion, led by Allen Rosales, Arnold Ramos, Doms Adalig, Amante James and Rey Mariveles started strong winning the first three matches but their colleagues countered by winning 4 of the next 5 to level the score halfway through. A fierce battle followed until Striker-1 took the upper hand at 8-6 with 2 matches left. However, Striker-2 forced the decider with Galvan and Terso winning their matches at the bottom against Adalig and James respectively. A seesaw battle ensued until Striker-1 got the advantage of hitting first for the win with James setting up Rosales for the classic double-16 (32 left on their score) while Striker-2 had 60 score remaining after Terso missed his aim to finish it with 97 earlier. Rosales missed his three-darts by a wire on the winning shot that paved the way for Calalo to steal the game by hitting first single-20 then double-20 for the winner. Striker-2 thus survived the power-play of Rosales who went unbeaten with 4-0 while maintaining a balance output from Terso and Calalo both with 3-1 and Galvan 2-2 win-loss records. Other results: JAL Arrows chalk up three consecutive wins against Hempel's Dart Vader-1 (9-7), AFICO Striker-3 (9-3) and Bulleros (9-6); Hempel's Dart Vaders-2 outplayed Al-Mana Los Darteros 9-4; AFICO Striker-1 defeated Bulleros earlier with a 9-6 score. __
