Akil De Freitas scored a beaver-trick and striking partner Jonathan Glenn added a double as St Anthony's College "Tigers" enjoyed a 7-1 thrashing of Tranquillity Government Secondary in 2005 BG T&T Secondary Schools Football League North Zone action yesterday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
The victory was the Tigers' first in their third league outing, following a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive and a 1-1 draw at home to Malick on Monday.
But despite the result, St Anthony's coach Nigel Grovesnor would not be completely satisfied with the at-times relaxed play of the defending national Inter Col champions, who might have had almost twice that score, but for some casual attacking.
Needing three points to stay in contention for League honours, St Anthony's wasted no time asserting their dominance, Keron Sutton opening the scoring before a minute had passed to send the Westmoorings side ahead.
After several misses and close calls for Tranquil, De Freitas made it 2-0 for St Anthony's in the 25th minute, collecting a pass and side-stepping goalkeeper Richard Barclay to notch his first goal.
Glenn (33rd) and De Freitas (40th) each added a goal before the interval to go into the dressing room with a 4-0 advantage in St Anthony's favour.
The second half was more of the same, with the Tigers wasting multiple chances, going forward more slowly. But Glenn beat Barclay again in the 52nd and then De Freitas got his hat-trick three minutes later, collecting an incisive pass from Glenn and slotting home.
But their blithe state in the game caused them to concede a goal. Tacuma Jones latched onto a long ball after Tranquil scrambled away an errant defensive pass.
He made no mistake, beating Bevon Francois in a one-on-one to make the score 6-1.
De Freitas closed out the scoring in the 66th, but Tranquility still had some close calls before the match ended with a 7-1 St Anthony's win.
Also in the North, Fatima College stretched their lead atop the standings to five points with a 4-0 win at home to QRC, thanks to Malick, who leap-frogged QRC to land in second spot after a 1-0 victory away to St Mary's College.
And the Central Zone finally kicked off after Friday's bomb scare at the Ato Boldon Stadium, as Marabella Junior Secondary opened with a 3-0 win over Union Claxton Bay at the same venue and Chaguanas Senior Comprehensive stopped Tabaquite 1-0 in front of their home crowd.
Yesterday's SSFL results:
NORTH ZONE
St Anthony's College 7 (Akil De Freitas 4, Jonathan Glenn 2, Keron Sutton) vs Tranquility 1 (Tacuma Jones)
Fatima 4 (Makesi Lewis 2, Emmanuel Joseph, Marvin James) vs QRC 0
St Mary's 0 vs Malick 1
SOUTH ZONE
Fyzabad 0 vs Naparima (Nigel Wright) 1
Moruga 2 vs Mayaro 2
St Benedict's 0 vs Princes Town 1
EAST ZONE
El Dorado 4 vs Malabar 0
San Juan 4 (Kadeem Gibbs 2, Elijah Manners 2) vs Arima 0
St Augustine 11 vs St George's 0
CENTRAL ZONE
Marabella Jr Sec 3 vs UCB 0
Chag 1 vs Tabaquite 0
16