KESHAWN HUNTE scored a first half hat-trick as Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive cruised into the RBTT North Zone InterCol semi-finals after crushing Morvant-Laventille Secondary by a wide 8-0 margin yesterday at the Hasely Crawford Stadium.
Morvant-Laventille were never in the hunt as their opponents dominated from the start with Hunte (7th, 22nd & 28th minutes) and Christon Thomas (43rd) ensuring Mucurapo cruised to a 4-0 lead at the halfway stage.
But even though their boys were well in command, Mucurapo's cheerleading section was still willing them on to totally destroy Morvant-Laventille.
"Compre, we want ah goal...Compre, we want ah goal," they rang out.
And if Morvant weren't good on the field, their very vocal cheerleaders were definitely up to the task and gave the Mucurapo girls a good battle throughout the 90 minutes.
Brave as it was considering that they trailed by four goals, the Morvant cheerleaders kept urging "Compre" to move out the way.
Apparently, the Morvant boys mis-interpreted the instructions as it was they who parted like the Red Sea in the 51st minute, allowing Khaleem Hyland to stroll down the middle and stroke the ball past Stanley Gittens in the Morvant-Laventille citadel for a fifth goal.
Nigel Arthur then drilled in a hard, low shot in the 59th minute to make it 6-0 and, in the 66th minute, Irvin Rollo finished a one-two combination with a low shot into the Morvant-Laventille goal.
Finally, in the 84th minute, Richard Roy headed in a rebound after keeper Gittens had saved his initial low shot with his feet.
By that time, the Morvant cheerleaders had finally realised the gravity of their situation and were urging their boys to at least get a goal.
When it became aware that was impossible as well, they attempted to make the best of their situation and save face.
"Mucurapo win the trophy, but we taking home the money. Mucurapo win the trophy, but we taking home the money," was the cry.
It was hard not to laugh, as they jumped and waved with a passion as if they were actually winning the match. Their unbridled enthusiasm even won over one of Mucurapo's most ardent supporters, who advised his rivals that since they could not beat them (Mucurapo), at least join them.
So said, he then led the entire Morvant posse from the top flight of the covered stand to join the Mucurapo gang at the bottom for a jump up among both sets of supporters. They started as enemies, but by the time the match was finished, they had joined as friends. Now, that is the true spirit of InterCol.
YESTERDAY'S RBTT INTERCOL RESULTS:
North Zone
Mucurapo 8 Morvant-Laventille 0
CIC 1 Fatima 4
South Zone
Mayaro Composite 1 Fyzabad 1
Fyzabad win 5-4 on penalties
16