Four-time National InterCol champions St Anthony’s College will face Arima North Secondary in a battle for schools’ football supremacy in the Coca-Cola National InterCol final this afternoon.
The highly anticipated encounter will be played at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, Mucurapo from 4 pm, this afternoon. The “Westmoorings Tigers” who went through the entire campaign, without losing, or dropping a single point in the North Zone, are well prepared heading into the encounter.
While St Anthony’s have been flawless in the BGTT First Citizens Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL), the team had more challenging runs to advance to the final stage of the National competition.
On Friday, St Anthony’s faced a tough hurdle in South Zone InterCol winners Presentation College San Fernando. A late goal from striker Darryl Trim won the match out-right, after the match had seemed to be heading to penalties.
After “Pres” leading goal scorer Shackiel Henry opened mid-way through the first half, St Anthony’s was quick to respond from a goal through Savion Kirton.
Several changes will be made to the St Anthony’s line-up from the semi-final match. Trim and Moriba Ballah who started on the bench against Presentation, will be among the starting 11. St Anthony’s coach Nigel Grovsenor said his team was out to win. “We’re starting our best players, who have the necessary experience.
The players are ready, it’s all mental now. The thing is, everyone expects us to win, so that makes it a little bit harder. Not to mention the tiredness which is kicking in from the number of matches.” Grovsenor went on to say that he was not very familiar with his opponent.
“It’s even harder when you don’t know your opponent. I don’t know Arima North very well, so I don’t know what to expect.” He then said, “If Arima North is any better than ‘Pres’ we could very well lose the match.” He used the opportunity to congratulate Presentation College for the team’s strong showing in the last match.
“It was extremely difficult to break down ‘Pres’. They are a very strong and brave team.” The other finalists, Arima North, advanced to the final after humbling Central Zone’s Carapichaima East Secondary 3-1 on Wednesday. Marcus Gomez, Tevin Figaro and Kwame Hazel were the goal-scorers for Arima on the day.
In the match which saw them qualify for the last four, Arima North squeezed past San Juan Secondary 2-1 to win the East Zone InterCol title. Rondell Elie and Che Edwards were on target in that match. Arima’s coach Peter Lewis said that he was fielding a fit team. He said, however, that he does not wish to reveal who his starting players would be. “I can tell you, however, that we are confident going into the match.
We have a healthy team. The school has come a long way, and we intend to play as we have throughout the season,” said Lewis. He continued, “we are now on top of schools in the zone such as El Dorado and St Augustine, which was somewhat unheard of a few years ago.”
“What we (staff) intend to do, both on an academic and sporting level for the school, is to restore the confidence that parents have in the school. Recently we have been subject to much negative stigma, but we intend to change that. We want parents to know that the school is one where education and sport remains at a high standard.”
Arima North’s most recent successes were East Zone InterCol wins, both this season and last. Back in 2003, the team reached to both the National InterCol final and the “Big-Five” final, losing out on both. In 2003, Arima North (then known as Arima Senior Comprehensive) reached to the National InterCol final, and were edged by none other than St Anthony’s College 3-2.
17