Five players from defending juniors champion CEC Dragons fail in Cesafi screening

The title defense of last year’s juniors division champion of the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI), the Cebu Eastern College Dragons, has been put in peril as only 10 out of their 15 players has been given the go-signal by the screening committee to play in the upcoming season, which kicks off on Aug. 7 at the Cebu Coliseum.

The screening was held last week and out of the 15 players that were submitted by CEC, only 10 managed to make the cut.

These are Michael Balankig, Marvin Bauya, Mark Berdera, Neil Bracero, Luther Huevos, Anthony Pestano, Jefferson Roxas, Rex Villarosa, Cris Yap and Lyle Sumayang.

Five players, which included some key guys, were disqualified by the committee because of several discrepancies in their records such as failure to pass their subjects and failure to pass the required documents on time.

The players who were disqualified are John Caspe, Jesus Grijaldo, Raymar Jose, Alfred Sedillo and John Zosa.

However, CEC team manager Sammy Sia remained optimistic that his wards will be allowed to play as they are in the process of collecting the documents needed to clear them.

“We are collating those documents as of the moment such as the transcripts of records and such. We’ll be submitting them tomorrow (today),” Sia said.

However, should the players not be allowed to play, this development will surely cripple a campaign that has already seen their top four players graduate.

Last year’s MVP, Nike Montalvo, Mark Olayon, Roy Villarias and BJ Zosa have already moved on to the next level and are playing with the University of the East Red Warriors in the UAAP.