At the beginning of the 2004 Secondary Schools Football League, there were few-if any-fans who would have expected to see Vessigny Government Secondary in the RBTT Intercol national final.
And after they finished just outside the reach of automatic relegation in the SSFL South Zone, they probably would not have been considered as contenders for the national stage, far less to be facing the defending champions in the "Tigers" of St Anthony's College in the premier match of the schools football season, scheduled for Tuesday.
St Anthony's earned a berth in the final and a shot at a third consecutive title last Thursday night when they defeated a weary St Augustine Senior Secondary 3-2 on kicks from the penalty spot to dash the Green Machine's hopes of a National sweep after a gruelling 120 minutes of play that produced no goals.
The Tigers have long ceased to be strangers to this stage, having reached the final for the fourth time in eight years, winning on the previous three, including consecutively in the last two years.
Vessigny are quite the opposite, their best performance prior to this season taking them as far as the South Zone Intercol "semis" last year, when they lost 3-2 on penalties to St Benedict's after a goalless scoreline.
Vessigny coach Howard Spencer credits his team's inspiring results to more than just determined play.
"Our present situation with regard to reaching the finals is because of divine intervention," Spencer said. "I think the Almighty had a great part to play, and he will also have a part to play in what happens on Tuesday."
Spencer said his team had watched the competition play and tried to counteract their game plan, a plot that seemed to work well on Thursday in their semi-final meeting with Mucurapo Senior Comprehensive.
They managed to keep the North Zone champs at bay, frustrating them into rash shooting, and capitalised with a 90th minute item for the win.
But having been trounced by St Anthony's in a practice match earlier in the season, Spencer is aware that it may be a little harder than Thursday's encounter.
"They (Vessigny) are on a high right now. The only problem is that we played St Anthony's a practice game, just before Benedict's, and they beat us 8-0, so the boys will be a bit wary of St Anthony's."
But Spencer thinks that his team's best chance will be to keep the potent Tigers' forwards at bay.
"Throughout the season, we have tried not to let them (the opposition) score early. I am going with my team's fitness, and I know once the game remains goalless, we have a much better chance. They are the defending National Intercol champions. So we have nothing to lose, at the end of the day, we just want to make sure that we can walk off the field with our heads held high."
Although not denying that he preferred his team to meet the South Zone runners-up as opposed to a fourth meeting with Mucurapo-who have defeated them in all three encounters between the teams this season-St Anthony's coach Nigel Grovesnor says that his team were disappointed they will not get a chance to redeem themselves against Mucurapo in the final, which is being played at the Hasely Crawford Stadium from 6 p.m.
But his mind is on Tuesday's match, as he laid out his game plan quite simply.
"The attack from Vessigny was pretty slow. They played a difficult game. You have to have speed to counteract them, and we are going to be running at them. We (are) coming at them and we are not taking them for granted," Grovesnor said. "We're going as though we (are) going to play Mucurapo or St Augustine."
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