Presentation College San Fernando will face St. Augustine Secondary in the 2009 BGTT Big Five final on Tuesday 27th October at a venue to be announced.
'Pres' defeated a plucky Carapichaima team who will no doubt be ruing their missed opportunities that could so easily have changed the complexion of the match.
For Carapichaima the song remains the same, coast through a less than challenging Central Zone and not being able to get past the big teams of the other zones. They will now have to focus their attention on defending their Central Zone Intercol title and getting back into the finals where they can hope to go one better than last season.
The game started at a frenetic pace. Carapichaima certainly caught 'Pres' off guard in the early stages as they chased every loose ball and did not give the 'Pres' midfielders any time to settle on the ball.
Five minutes into the match 'Caps' thought they had the opening goal when Nathan James let loose a rocket from 20 yards out which 'Pres' goalkeeper Terrence Ramsaroop push onto the crossbar and out of play.
Ramsaroop would have a busy evening and put in man of the match performance to keep the clean sheet.
An 11th minute freekick by 'Caps' skipper Michael Renaud was push away by Ramsaroop and cleared away by the defense.
'Pres' eventually began to settle and created some nervous moments for the 'Caps' defense and nearly took the lead in the 25th minute. Amare Thomas dribbled past two Carapichaima defenders and crossed the ball dangerously across the face of goal where the faintest of touches would have given the home team the lead, but the cross eluded everyone.
The half ended goalless with both teams looking dangerous going forward but not able to get past some stingy defending.
The second half started at the same pace as the first, with both teams not willing to give up an inch and the tackles came hard and fast.
'Pres' did actually have the ball in the back of the net in the 15th minute, but the officials correctly blew for a Tristan Khan foul on the Carapichaima goal keeper.
One of the pivotal moments of the game came in the 20th minute when 'Caps' should have taken the lead.
Christon Ralph was played clean through the 'Pres' defense and found himself one on one with goalkeeper Ramsaroop in the 'Pres' goal area, but somehow his point blank ranged shot to the right was held by the agile 'Pres' goalkeeper.
How costly this miss would be, 'Caps' would soon find out as ten minutes later 'Pres' took the lead.
A looping pass through the centre of the 'Caps' defense bounced over the head of skipper Michael Renaud, and 'Pres' attacker Travis Francis got to the ball before 'Caps' keeper Akeel Alfred and lifted the ball over the stranded goalkeeper to send the home fans into raptures.
With time winding down, Carapichaima switched to a more attacking formation which inevitably left them thin at the back.
'Caps' inability to breakdown the dogged 'Pres' defense cost them dearly in the 90th minute as Tristan Khan again showed a tremendous change of pace that left the Carapichaima defense in his wake. Just as Khan cut into the goal area he was upended and the referee did not hesitate to point to the spot.
Up stepped Rodney Young, who buried the penalty low and to the right of Alfred who guessed the wrong way.
With that insurance goal, 'Pres' extinguished any hope of a 'Caps' comeback, and they now head to the Big Five final against St. Augustine in what is sure to be a gripping contest.