After a four-year haitus, St Mary’s College finally captured the North Zone title of the BGTT First Citizens Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL), dethroning St Anthony’s College with an emphatic 7-1 win over Malick in the final match day of league competition, yesterday.
The win was recorded simultaneously with Presentation College’s 4-1 win over Princes Town Secondary, which saw “Pres” retain its league zonal crown.
In the North, many supporters had their attention on both the clash between St Mary’s College and Malick, and St Anthony’s versus East Mucurapo, which had a say in three teams’ chances of taking the title. Aside from St Mary’s, East Mucurapo stood the next best chance of winning the title.
However, St Anthony’s, hoping for a draw or a loss for St Mary’s, exacted revenge on Mucurapo with a humiliating 5-0 defeat, after the latter took the first leg battle 2-1 to hand the Tigers their first league defeat since the 2011 season.
For St Mary’s, which went into half-time leading 3-1, before adding four more spectacular second half goals, Jelani Christopher, Rashad Hyacinth and Adrian Welch all scored a double each, while Sebastien Cabral got the other goal. Most mentionable was a wonderfully struck Welch shot from a considerable distance, which may have been credited as one of the goals of the season.
It was a fitting finale for St Mary’s, which last won the title back in 2009. Jason Edwards, coach of the Saints, said it was a well deserved title for his team, which ended with a record of just one loss in 12 matches.
“We worked hard, but it was always going to be close. When you look at it, we ended up taking four points against Mucurapo and three against St Anthony’s. We have been consistent,” said Edwards.
“We only lost one match against St Anthony’s, which in itself was questionable. But, the stats don’t lie. We deserve it.”
There was not much other to play for in the zone, with no team facing relegation due to the introduction of next season’s inaugural SSFL Premier League. The four spots allotted to the North Zone were already determined, with St Mary’s, St Anthony’s, East Mucurapo and Fatima College, the four teams sealing berths.
In the South Zone, which was the only one left to be decided, Presentation College defended it with a (postponed) match in hand. Shackiel Henry, Presentation College’s top scorer last season, scored a hat-trick, while Angel Williams added to the rout with a first half penalty.
Christopher Mohammed pulled one back for Princes Town, just before the half to make it 2-1. Despite it being the final round of action, two reschedule matches remain, which will determine the last remaining berth for the Premier League. Either Shiva Boys, which has a far superior goal difference or Mayaro, which is three points behind, on a much lower goal-difference will take the spot.
Teams confirmed in the 2014-2015 SSFL
Premier League
North Zone: St Mary’s College, St Anthony’s College, East Mucurapo, Fatima College.
South Zone: Presentation College of San Fernando, Naparima College, St Benedict’s College.
East Zone: St Augustine, El Dorado West, Arima North Secondary, San Juan Secondary.
Central: Chaguanas North Secondary, Carapichaima East Secondary.
Fixtures
North Zone
St Anthony’s 5 (Kadeem Corbin, Matthew Woo Ling, Shaquille Long, Shaquille Huggins, Jomoul Francois) v East Mucurapo 0
St Mary’s 7 (Sebastien Cabral, Jelani Christopher 2, Rashad Hyacinth 2, Adrian Welch 2) v Malick 1
Fatima 3 v Diego Martin North 1 (Josh Toussaint) (3-1)
East Zone
El Dorado West 2 v El Dorado East 0
San Juan North 3 v Valencia 1
Arima North 3 v Trinity East 2
South Zone
Naparima 2 (Jabari Mitchell 13th, Nicholas Dillon 16th) v Mayaro 2
Presentation 4 (Shackiel Henry 8th, 46th, 85th, Angel Williams pen 40th) v Princes Town 1 (Christopher Mohammed 43rd)
St Benedicts 3 (Tyler Williams 25th, Yafeu Rougier 38th, 85th) v Pleasantville 1
Tobago Zone
Scarborough 3 v Goodwood 0
Pentecostal L&L 1 v Roxborough 1
Bishop’s High 1 v Signal Hill 1
Speyside 5 (Simeon Skeete 2, Brandon Benjamin 2, Terquiel Mahabal) v Mason Hall 0
Standings [North]
Teams Pld W D L F A Pts
St Mary’s 12 9 2 1 34 13 29
St Anthony’s 12 9 1 2 39 14 25
East Mucurapo 12 8 2 2 21 14 23
Fatima 12 5 2 5 21 23 17
Diego Martin 12 2 2 8 11 24 8
QRC 12 2 1 9 19 30 7
Malick 12 1 0 11 13 40 3
South Zone
Teams Pld W D L F A Pts
Presentation 11 8 2 1 30 7 26
Naparima 12 6 4 2 23 15 22
St Benedict’s 11 6 2 3 22 13 20
Shiva Boys 11 4 4 3 18 17 16
Mayaro 11 3 4 4 11 21 13
Princes Town 12 2 2 8 12 23 8
Pleasantville 12 1 2 9 10 5 24 5
East
Teams Pld W D L F A Pts
St Augustine 12 11 1 0 47 2 31
El Dorado West12 7 2 3 26 12 23
Arima North 12 7 1 4 23 20 22
San Juan 12 6 1 6 24 27 20
Trinity East 12 6 1 5 20 19 19
El Dorado East 12 2 0 10 4 26 6
Valencia 12 0 0 11 2 40 0
Central
Teams Pld W D L F A Pts
Chaguanas North 8 7 0 1 56 5 21
Carapichaima East 8 7 0 1 49 8 21
Tabaquite 7 3 0 4 14 28 9
Presentation College 7 2 0 5 14 30 6
Vishnu Boys 8 0 0 8 8 68
Tobago
Teams Pld W D L F A Pts
Speyside 14 11 2 1 41 9 35
Scarborough 14 6 7 1 21 10 25
Roxborough 14 6 5 3 27 20 23
Mason Hall 14 7 2 5 30 23 23
Signal Hill 14 3 4 7 23 27 13
Pentecostal L&L 14 3 4 7 11 23 13
Bishop’s High 14 3 4 7 17 26 13
Goodwood 14 1 4 9 12 48 7
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