The most celebrated school in the East Zone, St Augustine Secondary, otherwise known as the Green Machine, will be seeking to secure yet another Coca-Cola East Zone InterCol title, when they take on league winner Arima North, at the Larry Gomes Stadium, Arima, today, from 4 pm.
Granted Arima North manages to pull off a similar result to its second leg league victory over St Augustine, the school from Arima Old Road will secure its first zonal InterCol title en route to the national quarterfinal where it will meet the Tobago champion, which will be determined simultaneously.
The Green Machine fell eight points off the top as it finished second in the league, and managed to salvage a 1-1 draw in the first leg. In the second, Arima got the better of St Augustine via a 3-1 scoreline.
However, unlike St Augustine which sailed through to the final with an easy 4-1 victory over El Dorado West in the last four stage, Arima North required kicks from the penalty spot to eventually dispose of Trinity College East, after the two teams ended in a 1-1 draw.
Arima thought they won last Friday’s semifinal match outright when top forward Marcus Gomez found the net in the 83rd minute, but Trinity East almost spoiled the party with a goal in injury time, through Antonio Auguste. However, with the match headed directly to penalties, Arima proved more clinical, when Gomez scored the final kick to seal a berth in the title match.
Over in the sister isle, top two finishers in the league competition, champion and traditional powerhouse Scarborough Secondary and runner-up Speyside Secondary will lock horns in the final at the Dwight Yorke Stadium, Bacolet, at 4 pm.
Having reached the final for the first time in the school’s history with a narrow 4-3 victory over Mason Hall in the last four stage, Speyside will be hoping that momentum will carry the school past the more celebrated school from the capital which has won the competition on numerous occasions.
For either team to take the match in regulation time, they would have to provide the edge in contrast to their last meetings which ended up in draws. Back in the SSFL league competition, the teams tied 3-3 in the first leg, before again settling for a point with a 2-2 stalemate in the second.
Scarborough advanced to the final with a simple 5-0 win over lowly Roxborough, with top attacker Gem Gordon on target with a double, while Darion David, Kelon James and Agyei Duncan all added one a piece.
However, it was a different story in Speyside’s semifinal win. It took an 84th minute from Brandon Benjamin to seal a spot in the final after a nervy conclusion to the opening match of the semifinal double-header nearly two weeks ago.
Tomorrow, the Central final will be contested between Carapichaima East and Chaguanas North Secondary, at the Ato Boldon Stadium, at 4 pm, followed by the South and the North finals which will be contested on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
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