Two teams completely mismatched on paper, South Zone underdog Princes Town and East Zone powerhouse St Augustine Secondary, scheduled to clash in tomorrow’s Coca-Cola National InterCol semifinal double-header opener at the national stadium, are ready for combat.
Princes Town, a team with its fair share of rich history in football, but overshadowed by the likes of Presentation College of San Fernando and stunned Naparima College in recent years, blew away the South Zone recently when it took the zonal InterCol title after three consecutive upset victories.
The team finished sixth in the league, and as a result, was pitted against the third-placed finisher Naparima College in the InterCol South Zone quarterfinal. Against the odds, and against a team it lost to twice during the league campaign, Princes Town won the match 1-0.
Then against St Benedict’s College in the semifinal, Princes Town managed to execute the unlikely task of shutting out the second best team in the zone’s league competition, to take a win on spot kicks. Its next test, in the final, was against the reigning South Zone InterCol champion, Shiva Boys Hindu College.
Lo and behold, Princes Town secured the 1-0 from a first-half strike from centre-back Anderson Toussaint. But the fairytale run has not ended just yet. “We’re going all the way. We’re playing for this title. The league position did not matter,” said Princes Town head coach and past student, Jeffrey Seecharan. “We’re an InterCol team.
We love pressure and we play for the fans, the students.” Based on its current run and its past successes in the InterCol competition, Seecharan feels momentum and the support of the enthusiastic fans will take the team all the way to the trophy, which was last lifted in 2001.
“We had the banners and stickers printed since July,” said Seecharan without an ounce of facetiousness in his tone. “They (the students) love big events.” It is the supporters, according to Seecharan, who have helped the team maintain three consecutive clean sheets. And, he said it is the same supporters who will inspire Princes Town to glory once again.
In the line-up are Toussaint, who came up big with decisive goals this season, along with his defensive comrade Kadeem Joshua, and forward Atiba Marshall, three key components to the team.
Speaking on tomorrow’s opponent, Seecharan said he expects a quick game against a number of well-known Green Machine midfielders and goal-scorers. “We’ll approach it as a final, as we have done against Naps, Benedict’s and Shiva. We saw them in the East Zone final and they were impressive. We’re confident but cautious. We have the ability to beat them.”
Asked what team he would prefer to meet in the final, Fatima College or Speyside Secondary, Seecharan opted for the latter merely because he felt he wanted to meet a team from Tobago. However, Princes Town’s manager, Robert Warner, who was interviewed earlier, also opted for Speyside but for a different reason.
“We saw Fatima in the final. If we can avoid them, that would be good,” said Warner, who was impressed with the North Zone’s schools persistence against East Mucurapo Secondary in the North Zone final.
Meanwhile, his opposite number, Michael Grayson, St Augustine’s head coach since 2004, who guided the school to an impressive four Big-Five titles, believes 2013 is the year for him and his players to lift the national InterCol title.
It will be the last year that St Augustine’s top scorer Ricardo John, national Under-20 player Shannon Gomez and consistent forward Jordan Devonish will have a shot at schools football’s top prize. Unfortunately for them, they will have to work around the absence of midfielder Triston Hodge, who started every match this season, but is suspended for the semifinal for an accumulation of yellow cards.
“It may be our year, but it will not be easy. Although we scored in most matches, and many goals at that, none (of the games) have been easy,” said Grayson.
“We began the season with the objective of winning all four titles, to mimic that of St Anthony’s. We set that target because we have the players to do so.” St Augustine was almost flawless in winning the East Zone league title, winning all but one match, which it drew to El Dorado West Secondary (0-0).
A massive 11 points separated itself and second-placed El Dorado West at the end of the league campaign.
Those two teams met for the third time in the East Zone InterCol final, last Thursday, with St Augustine taking a 2-0 win. Devonish and John both scored second-half goals to win the match, and both could have had more. St Augustine’s target is to win tomorrow, and it will not matter what team it meets in the final, granted it’s successful, Grayson said.
Princes Town has won the national InterCol title twice (2001 and 1994) between this year and the last time St Augustine won it, in 1984. Tomorrow’s double-header semifinal at the Hasely Crawford Stadium, kicks off at 3.30 pm, between Fatima College (North) and Speyside Secondary (Tobago). St Augustine and Princes Town will clash in the second match from 5.30 pm.
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