Needing just a draw, Presentation College San Fernando instead clocked in a last minute goal to add the icing on the cake in securing its 11th straight victory and the South Zone title with a narrow 1–0 victory over Shiva Boys in the BGTT/First Citizens Secondary Schools Football League, yesterday.
Playing at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella, Presentation, managed to dethrone Shiva after scoring the only goal through an added-time effort from Renaldo Atwell, as the team was determined to keep its 100 per cent winning streak from the start of the season in tact.
The final score was a mirror result of the 1–0 win that the Shawn Cooper-coached Presentation secured in the first leg. “Pres” copped the title with a match to spare, with its final match against Pleasantville now irrelevant.
And while Presentation was celebrating, so too were the East Zone’s Arima North which claimed a similarly nailbiting 1–0 victory over Trinity East Secondary, to claim similar honours. Both teams have secured a spot in the SSFL Boys’ Big-Four competition, where they are now scheduled to face each other in the semifinal on October 29, at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Arima. Rondell Elie got the lone goal in the 33rd minute for Arima North.
The “Dial Dynamos”, who came from behind to earn a hard fought 2–2 draw with Trinity East in the first round, held a three-point lead over St Augustine, which had one match left and needed a win to cement the crown with third placed San Juan North (20 points from ten matches) still in the hunt. In the two other matches, San Juan North squandered a first-half 2–0 lead and had to settle for a 2–2 draw with St Augustine while last year’s winner, El Dorado East blanked relegated Toco, 3–0.
Up North, St Anthony’s College carried its unbeaten run to 30 matches, even though it was made to wait until at least one match to retain the zonal title, as the “Tigers” and East Mucurapo Secondary played to a 1–1 stalemate, at Fatima Ground.
With the first half ending scoreless, Mucurapo was the first to strike, as the crafty Aaqil Campbell found himself in the right place at the right time to tap in a close range effort, in the 51st minute, after an original attempt on goal was parried into his path by St Anthony’s goalkeeper Jevon Sample.
The goal which followed in the 75th minute by substitute Dwayne Calliste may well have been the goal of the season, as the player who was only on for five minutes, connected with Xavier Rajpaul’s corner for a clinical overhead “bicycle” kick which soared into the back of the net.
St Mary’s College, meanwhile, bounced back from its loss to St Anthony’s College two weeks prior to take a 1–0 win over Trinity, with Jelani Christopher scoring in the 33rd minute. Christopher also received a red card, even after being substituted for his choice words at the match official.
The race for the Central Zone will go down to Wednesday’s final round of matches after Chaguanas North pulled of its second win of the season against champions Carapichaima East at Carapichaima, 3–1 led by a double from David Maloney.
Maloney opened the scoring for Chaguanas in the 19th minute to lead 1–0 at the half, but the league’s top scorer Shaquille Holder then wasted a chance to get “Caps” level when he muffed a penalty in the 65th minute before making amends 20th minutes later from close range for his team to trail, 2–1.
However, with a minute left in regulation time, Jaron Humphrey sealed all three points for the visitors at 3–1 while Seon Prince then missed a second penalty for Carapichaima on the stroke of full-time. The win lifted Chaguanas North to 23 points from nine matches, two ahead of Carapichaima which has the possibility of its 2–1 loss to the new leaders in the first round being reverse to a 3–0 win due to protest which will be heard tomorrow by the league’s Disciplinary Committee.
Over in Tobago, Scarborough Secondary opened a four-point lead at the top of the standings with a hectic 5–3 victory over Roxborough Secondary, while second-placed Speyside failed to maintain momentum as it dropped to a 1–0 defeat to second-to-last Signal Hill. The result meant that Scarborough is just one win away from securing the title. They will come up against Mason Hall on Wednesday.
Results
North Zone:
East Mucurapo 1 (Aaqil Campbell 51st) vs St Anthony’s 1 (Dwayne Calliste 75th)
St Mary’s 1 (Jelani Christopher 33rd) vs Trinity 0
QRC 3 (Akil Morris 19th, 38th, Joash Williams 65th) vs Diego Martin North 2 (Keston Frederick 75th, Dane Douglas 80th)
South:
Presentation 1 (Renaldo Atwell 90th+2) v Shiva 0
Naparima 4 (Akeem Humphrey 2nd, Wade Caesar 18th, Jabari Mitchell 25th, Adan Noel 38th) vs Moruga 2
St Benedict’s 4 (Jameel Boatswain 2, Yafeu Rougier, Shemar Ravello) vs Princes Town 1 (Quasi Cooper)
East:
El Do East 3 (Shaquille Bertrand 72nd, 90th) Gabriel Ragout 4th) vs Toco 0
San Juan North 2 (Brent Sam 43rd, Daniel Banfield 45th) vs St Augustine 2 (Ricardo John 50th, Kwesi Williams 80th)
Arima North 1 (Rondell Elie 33rd) vs Trinity East 0
Central:
Couva West 5 (Jaffet Williams 1st, 20th, 35th, Jevon Sandiford 30th, Dimitri Arjoon 44th) vs Presentation 0
Chaguanas North 3 (David Maloney 19th, 82nd, Jaron Humphrey 89th) Carapichaima East 1 (Shaquille Holder 85th)
Tabaquite 4 (Jabari Ramkissoon 2, Andre Gonzales 2) vs Gasparillo 1 (Chevon Elie)
Tobago:
Signal Hill 1 (Dereme Williams 56th) vs Speyside 0
Scarborough 5 vs Roxborough 3
Standings
North:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
St Anthony’s 11 7 4 0 19 8 25
East Mucurapo 11 6 4 1 22 8 22
Fatima 10 5 2 3 17 12 17
St Mary’s 11 5 2 4 14 11 17
QRC 11 3 2 6 20 27 11
D/Martin North 11 2 2 7 9 21 8
Trinity 11 1 2 8 5 19 5
East:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Arima North 11 8 3 0 30 11 27
St Augustine 12 6 4 2 27 12 22
San Juan North 11 6 3 2 23 8 21
El Do East 11 6 1 4 21 18 19
Trinity East 11 3 2 6 16 20 11
El Do West 11 3 0 8 12 26 9
Toco 11 0 1 10 6 40 1
South:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Presentation 11 11 0 0 42 4 33
Shiva 11 8 1 2 25 7 25
Naparima 12 8 0 4 30 15 24
St Benedict’s 10 4 2 4 23 13 14
P/Town 11 3 1 7 15 30 10
P’ville 10 1 1 8 7 23 4
Moruga 11 0 1 10 8 58 1
Central:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
Chaguanas North 9 7 2 0 31 4 23
Carapichaima 9 7 0 2 67 8 21
Couva West 9 4 0 5 14 21 12
Tabaquite 9 3 2 4 13 22 11
Presentation 8 1 3 4 5 29 6
Gasparillo 8 0 1 7 3 49 1
Tobago:
Teams P W D L F A Pts
S/borough 6 4 2 0 18 10 14
Speyside 7 2 4 1 14 12 10
M/Hall 5 2 3 0 8 5 9
S/Hill 7 1 2 4 3 7 5
R/borough 5 0 1 4 8 17 1
16