Carapichaima East Secondary continued its sensational run this season, when the school became the first Central team to lift the BGTT/First Citizens Secondary Schools’ Football League (SSFL) Big-Five championship title, after dropping favourites Presentation College of San Fernando on penalty kicks, subsequent to a 1-1 stalemate, yesterday.
A late 30-yard strike from Carapichaima’s Leon Wiley with five minutes remaining took the match to spot kicks, with the underdogs eventually emerging with a 4-3 penalties win, in the second match of a double-header at the Mannie Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella.
The opening match, which commenced over half an hour after the original kick-off time due to an ongoing conflict with officials, saw champion of the Girls’ south league championship Debe Secondary cop the Big-Four title with a straightforward 4-1 victory over Tobago’s Bishop’s High.
“Caps” did well to survive long periods of possession from Presentation College, which began as favourite to win the title, as it entered with a 100 percent winning streak from the season’s start.
But like its stunning win over last year’s champion St Anthony’s College, in the semifinal, Carapichaima was destined to stop the southern prestige school in its tracks.
Both teams were, in fact, more evenly matched in the opening stages. However, with a clash between two players, Carapichaima’s goalkeeper Demetrius Edwards and Presentation forward Civaughn Dimsoy, the tides changed.
Edwards, who may have suffered a broken leg, was substituted for Juamal Ramkumar, who only minutes later had to retrieve the ball from inside the net when he was beaten by a left-footed strike from midfielder Anjel Williams. Williams connected cleanly from a cross from Akil Pierre, which reached him at the edge of the 18-yard box.
“Pres” continued to press and restricting the Central Zone team to shots from distance, and with both teams struggling to find the final vital pass, the match had by all indications, had been decided.
Persistence paid off though as strikes from afar which failed to really test the Presentation custodian, eventually caught him off guard with a wicked shot in the 85th minute by Wiley. The Carapichaima faithful were in bliss at the prospect of a comeback after the school suffered a loss in the 2011 final to St Anthony’s.
The match went straight to penalty kicks, and with Presentation College missing its final two shots, Treverson Calliste smashed the ball in to the jubilation his team and supporters.
Caps’ manager Steve Gopeesingh, speaking after the match almost scoffed at the thought that his team may have been considered underdogs. “We are always considered underdogs in the press. No one ever hears about our 87 match winning streak in the (Central) zone,” said Gopeesingh.
“We’re all happy obviously, since we did it to St Anthony’s and now Pres. We moved like Sandy!” he added.
The team had to do without the efforts of the league leading goal scorer Shaquille Holder, who bagged 28 goals in league competition this year.
To the defence of Presentation, coach Shawn Cooper also fielded a team without its topscorer Shackiel Henry. Both forwards are currently on national Under-20 duties.
Taylor hat-trick hands Debe Big-Four crown
In the opening match, Debe kept control and composure as expected from a champion. The South Zone winner, which was the only girls’ team this season to secure a victory in every match of the campaign, was up 3-0 at half time, and never looked back.
National youth team midfielder, Taylor, found the back of the net with a swooping freekick on the 17th minute with Bishop’s custodian misjudging the height and pace on the ball.
Just over five minutes later, Debe, remaining in attack found a second, from a close-ranged finish again from Taylor, who connected with a brilliant low, pacey cross from Ray-Ann Montano.
With half-time approaching, Debe put the match to an early rest. This time it was Patrice Vincent, who has consistently found the back of the net for Debe for the past two seasons, scoring the team’s third goal, again from close range. The ball arrived from a corner kick and with Bishops’ defenders failing to clear, Vincent capitalised with a rocket into the top of the net.
Despite the deflating and momentous task ahead, Bishops returned with the right frame of mind and had its best spell of the match at the start of the second half.
Just over 15 minutes into the restart, Bishops found its first and only goal via Krystal Taylor, who assisted in the only goal of the semifinal win over St Francois.
The final goal of the match came in added time from the penalty spot, when Taylor, who was in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper was shoved from behind, giving the referee an easy decision to make. Taylor, in fact, was removed from the field to receive treatment before returning to put away her hat-trick and her fifth goal in the two Big-Four matches.
The win came as no surprise to those who followed the country’s most dominant school girls team in recent years. Debe reached to the final after defeating the only other unbeaten school in the league, East Zone’s St Augustine Secondary 3-0, in the semifinal.