St Augustine Secondary have been near unstoppable in the East Zone in recent years.
Yesterday, Arima North Secondary found a way to bring the "Green Machine" to a screeching halt with a 3-2 win over the defending champions in the Coca Cola East InterCol final at the Larry Gomes Stadium in Malabar.
Arima had been like a dark horse creeping silently up to the InterCol final after an ordinary Secondary Schools Football League season and yesterday was no different. They looked second best for much of the match and snuck in front at just the right time to steal the title.
St Augustine got first half goals from the reliable Zavion Navarro and Ricaldo Castellano, while Kern Roberts and Marcus Gomez made sure Arima were level before the break, all in the space of half hour. But Che Edwards was the Arima hero with his header ten minutes from time that sealed victory.
The "Green Machine" were in top gear from the beginning of the match and got the opener in just the second minute, as captain and winger Theon James cut across from the left flank, all along the touch line, and then squeezed the ball in for Navarro to beat Arima goalkeeper Joseph Craig.
But Arima were thankful to accept a "gift" in the 19th, as St Augustine gave away possession in their own penalty area. Roberts pounced and dribbled his other marker and beat 'keeper Kerron Jones to his right.
The comfort of that equaliser lasted six minutes before Castellano had St Augustine flying high again, thanks to another pass from the hard-working James, and Castellano could not miss from 12 metres.
Arima again tied things up in the 30th. Gomez stepped up and, as easy as an afternoon breeze, curled an 18-metre free kick into a shocked Jones's near post.
Craig had some nervous moments and Navarro and Jamal Creighton came close again to restoring St Augustine's lead, but there would be no more goals before the referee blew the half-time whistle to leave the teams locked at 2-2.
Castellano and Navarro both forced saves out of Craig after the restart, as St Augustine poured forward trying to jump back ahead.
Captain James too should have scored in the 56th, but his first touch let him down in front of goal and his second was hustled away by the Arima defence.
James, St Augustine's best player on the day, continued to generate pressure on the left, but Arima stayed back and defended hard, looking for the odd counter attack.
The Arimians were content to hammer any approaching attack back up field, waiting for chances like the one by Roberts in the 77th, when he tried to beat Jones from distance after seeing the St Augustine 'keeper off his line.
The pivotal moment came in the 80th when Arima were awarded a penalty, only for the referee to reverse his decision and give a free kick just on the right of the St Augustine penalty area.
Gomez floated the ball into a packed box and Edwards headed into Jones's net.
But the match was not over, as Arima managed to bring clear another 18-metre free kick from St Augustine.
Four minutes into stoppage time the whistle ended proceedings and then Arima's bench raced onto the field to properly celebrate.
They will now meet the victors in Tuesday's National InterCol semi-final between St Anthony's College and Tobago's InterCol champs.
Mason Hall Secondary and Signal Hill Secondary will clash today at the Dwight Yorke Stadium in Bacolet to determine who will advance to meet St Anthony's.
St Augustine's one consolation is they still have the postponed "Big Five" final to which they can look forward. But for 2010, Arima are the East Zone InterCol kings.
Arima dethrones St Augustine to steal title.
T&T Guardian Reports.
A strike from Che Edwards ten minutes from regulation time gave Arima North a 3-2 upset win over favourites East Zone league champions St Augustine.
Play was in the 2010 Coca Cola Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Zonal Inercol final at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar, yesterday. While it is not their first Zonal Intercol title, it is the first under the new coaching Staff led by Peter Lewis, who has been on the job for five years.
The 2009 champions, St Augustine nickname “Gustine”, took an early lead compliments of a Zavion Navarro strike.
However, Arima, drew level off the boot of Marcus Gomes. The “Green Machine” then regain the lead as Ricardo Castellano found the net to make it 2-1.
But Arima bounced back to level the score 2-2 when the inform Kern Roberts got into the action just before the break. The two teams went at each other in the second half, however, they were unable to find the back of the net until the 80th minute when Edwards tucked in the eventual winner. Coach Lewis said it was just reward for the hard work they have done this season.
He said: “We prepared well for this battle, and it just shows once you put in the work, you could get the desired results.” Lewis said the team showed a lot of character coming from behind twice.
“We were not prepared to just roll over and die, when they had the lead on both occasions. “However we got up and showed a fighting spirit that has been a part of the team since the new coach staff has taken over. We want people to know that Arima is back,” said the coach.
Yesterday’s Results
Arima 3 (Marcus Gomes, Kern Roberts, Che Edwards) vs St Augustine 2 (Zavion Navarro, Ricardo Castellano),