Unbeaten Naps crowned SSFL champs

Need­ing a vic­to­ry to as­sure them a re­peat of the ti­tle won last year, Pre­sen­ta­tion start­ed firey at San Juan but could not get past a steady Em­manuel John in goal. Af­ter 16th min­utes of play Aleem Bar­clay was set free but his blis­ter­ing dri­ve from just in­side the area was ac­ro­bat­i­cal­ly pushed wide by John, who won thun­der­ous ap­plause from the hun­dreds of fans that gath­ered at the venue.

And lat­er on, John again sprang in­to ac­tion to pre­vent at­tempts by Jor­dan Ri­ley, Ac­k­eel Ja­cob and com­pa­ny from break­ing the dead­lock.

The teams went in­to the half-time in­ter­val knot­ted at 0-0, but on the re­sump­tion the play­ers from both teams pro­duced fire­works for the crowd that packed the venue. The home team came to life when Isa­iah Chase found him­self at the end of a loose ball that bounced nice­ly for him from an ear­li­er at­tack, and with Pre­sen­ta­tion goalie Jabari Gray blind­ed in the midst of a crowd­ed de­fence, Chase lashed pow­er­ful­ly in­side the far post that gave Gray no chance as he looked on help­less­ly in the 59th minute.

The goal brought life and hope for a team that need­ed to win the en­counter by six clear goals and while de­pend­ing on Trin­i­ty Mo­ka to beat Na­pari­ma Col­lege, for its chance to claim the ti­tle. But Jardel St Clair spoiled it for host when he took down a left-side cross nice­ly in­side the box, and calm­ly slot­ted the ball past the ad­vanc­ing John for the equalis­er in the 83rd minute and from then on Pre­sen­ta­tion pressed on for sev­en min­utes to man­u­fac­ture the win­ner which nev­er came.

In Mar­aval, Na­pari­ma made sure of all three points and with San Juan's help, cel­e­brat­ed the cham­pi­onship. But be­fore that Nathaniel Per­ouse fired the vis­i­tors in­to the lead in the 25th minute. And with Trin­i­ty Mo­ka bat­tling to im­prove their po­si­tion on the stand­ings, Jeron Pan­tor sealed the win in the 60th minute to spark wild cel­e­bra­tions among his team­mates and sup­port­ers up­on learn­ing about the Bourg Mu­la­tresse re­sult.

Coach An­gus Eve said he was hum­bled by the win, and ded­i­cat­ed it to all those who played in­stru­men­tal roles in sup­port­ing the team, such as the teach­ers and oth­er staff mem­bers, the old boys and par­tic­u­lar­ly the play­ers who have played un­beat­en all sea­son.

"We knew the pres­sure was on Pre­sen­ta­tion, as we knew that hav­ing played against San Juan in Bourg Mu­la­tresse, it was al­ways go­ing to be dif­fi­cult to beat them. Hav­ing said that, We knew al­so that Trin­i­ty Mo­ka was no pushover ei­ther, so we had to do our part and win," Eve ex­plained.

"All prais­es and glo­ry to Almighty God, with­out whom we could not have achieved this. We will now turn our fo­cus on the In­ter­Col, which is a knock-out tour­na­ment and will be no easy one to win," Eve said.

Mean­while, St Mary's Col­lege al­so sur­vived rel­e­ga­tion by de­feat­ing Trin­i­ty East 4-2 at home in St Clair. The 'Saints' as the school is called, need­ed just a draw to avoid go­ing down, but the team got more than it bar­gained for with a dou­ble from Kyle Car­ring­ton, who scored in the 50th and 59th min­utes, as well as goals from Michel Poon-Angeron and Tyrese Spicer, to se­cure all three points and a com­fort­able 4-2 vic­to­ry in the end.

East­ern­ers Va­len­cia, the on­ly team to con­firm St Mary's rel­e­ga­tion need­ed to beat Fa­ti­ma by 11 goals. But the team failed to achieve its ob­jec­tive as Fa­ti­ma won 3-2. The re­sult meant Va­len­cia, Bish­op's To­ba­go and Fa­ti­ma have been de­mot­ed to the Cham­pi­onship Di­vi­sion for the 2019 sea­son.

RE­SULTS

QRC 1 vs Cara­pichaima 1
Va­len­cia 2 (Dwight Yorke 33rd, 79th) vs Fa­ti­ma 3 (Mikhail Mc Com­mie 2nd, Luke Dar­went 52nd, 53rd)
St Mary's 4 (Michel Poon-Angeron 7th, Kyle Car­ring­ton 50th, 59th) vs Trin­i­ty East 2 (J Mc Kree 9th, 20th)
East Mu­cu­rapo 2 (Daniel David 4th, Malachai 61st) vs St An­tho­ny's 0
San Juan 1 (Isa­iah Chase 59th) vs Pre­sen­ta­tion 1 (Jardel St Clair)
Na­pari­ma 2 (Nathaniel Per­ouse 25th, Jeron Pan­tor) vs Trin­i­ty Mo­ka 0

2018 Fi­nal Pre­mier Di­vi­sion Stand­ing

Pos*TEAM*P*W*D*L*F*A*GD*Pts

1*Na­pari­ma*14*10*4*0*27*9*18*34
2*Pre­sen­ta­tion*14*10*3*2*31*13*18*33
3*San Juan*14*9*3*2*26*16*10*30
4*Cara­pichaima*14*7*3*4*25*22*3*24
5*St Bene­dict's*14*6*3*5*22*21*1*21
6*QRC*14*5*5*4*19*12*7*20
7*Mu­cu­rapo*14*6*2*6*24*21*3*20
8*Trin­i­ty Mo­ka*14*5*4*5*21*31*-10*19
9*St Mary's*14*5*2*7*27*23*4*17
10*St Au­gus­tine*14*5*2*7*25*28*-3*17
11*Trin­i­ty East*14*3*7*4*15*15*0*16
12*St An­tho­ny's*14*4*3*7*22*25*-3*15
13*Va­len­cia*14*3*3*8*21*31*-10*12
14*Fa­ti­ma*14*3*2*9*14*23*-9*11
15*Bish­op's To­ba­go*14*0*2*12*12*41*-29*2

RELATED NEWS

Naps beat Trinity Moka 2-0 to take SSFL title.
By Joel Bailey (T&T Newsday).

NAPARIMA dethroned Presentation San Fernando as champions of the Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Premier Division, after a dramatic day of action in the final round yesterday.

Entering yesterday’s rescheduled Round 11 matches, Presentation San Fernando were on 32 points, followed by Naparima with 31 and San Juan North with 29.

Naparima, the 2015 Premier Division winners, travelled to Maraval and defeated Trinity Moka 2-0, with strikes from Nathaniel Perouse, in the 26th minute, and Jeron Pantor in the 64th.

Presentation San Fernando, the 2017 champs, also made the trip from South, to Bourg Mulatresse in Santa Cruz, to oppose San Juan North. However, that game ended in a 1-1 draw.

Isaiah Chase fired a right-footed shot, in the 57th, to put the hosts ahead, but Presentation San Fernando’s Jardel Sinclair evened the scores in the 82nd, with a close-range shot past the left of goalkeeper Emmanuel Jordan. Naparima coach Angus Eve said last evening, “We feel very honoured and very humbled. We give God all the glory for what he has continued to do in our lives, as a school body.”

He continued, “The Old Boys, the principal (Dr Michael Dowlath), the parents, the children, all the staff who has supported me tremendously throughout this trying season, and all of the teams who didn’t make this season easy for us at all, we just want to thank everybody for the contribution they would have made to the team winning this title.”

Asked about the position the Naps team faced, with the likelihood that either Presentation San Fernando or San Juan could have emerged as title-holders, Eve replied, “It wasn’t in our hands so what we (tried to) dictate was what was in our hands, and that’s winning this game.”

Midfielder Mark Ramdeen missed the latter matches this season due to national Under-20 team duties.

Eve, the ex-national men’s team midfielder and captain, noted, “Mark is a different player, but we coach a squad of players and we believe in every one of (them).

“We have guys like Isa Bramble, Decklan Marcelle and a lot of guys who could step up and do the job like Ezekiel Kesar (and) Molik (Khan),” he continued. “Mark scored some important goals for us. We always knew we were going to lose him, so we were prepared for that.”

On the opposite end of the 15-team points standings, 2018 debutants Valencia joined Fatima and Bishop’s High as the teams relegated to the Championship Division.

Heading into yesterday’s games, St Mary’s were on 12th place with 14 points, followed by Valencia with 12 points.

Ironically, the already-relegated Fatima consigned Valencia to the drop, courtesy of a 3-2 win at Valencia. St Mary’s, on the other hand, defeated Trinity East 4-2 at the St Mary’s Ground, St Clair.

Two other games were contested yesterday.

East Mucurapo beat St Anthony’s 2-0 at the Fatima Ground in Mucurapo and QRC were held to a 1-1 draw by Carapichaima East at the QRC Ground, St Clair.

(Teams)

San Juan North Secondary (4-4-1-1): Emmanuel John (GK); 19.Adrian Duncan (10.Jerry Morris 51), 4.Elisha Garcia (6.Jordan Britto 89), 22.Kyle Thomas, 17.Kareem John; 11.Isaiah Chase, 14.Darion Warner, 18.Malik Farrier, 2.Tyrell Cameron; 3.Elair Brewster; 9.Renaldo Boyce (captain) (13.Christon Mitchell 80).

Unused Substitutes: 30.Jushwar Wong (GK), 7.Josiah Phillip, 8.Jeremiah Rodriguez, 12.Kendo Matthias.

Coach: Jerry Moe

Presentation College (San F’do) (4-2-3-1): 28.Jabari Gray (captain); 3.Juaval Roberts, 5.Justin Cornwall, 27.Darnell Hospedales, 2.Zion Allen (24.Adica Ash 82) 15.Aleem Barclay, 6.Ackeel Jacob; 10.Jordan Riley, 9.Jaiye Sheppard, 18.Nkosi Charles (29.Jardel Sinclair 58); 7.Omri Baird.

Unused Substitutes: 1.Isaiah Williams (GK), 13.Markus Mason, 14.Tylon Roseman, 19.Terrell Noel, 20.Shakeem Julien.

Coach: Shawn Cooper

Referee: Joel Cox

RE­SULTS

QRC 1 (Darius Dickson) vs Cara­pichaima 1 (Kevon Williams)

Va­len­cia 2 (Dwight Yorke 33rd, 79th) vs Fa­ti­ma 3 (Mikhail Mc Com­mie 2nd, Luke Dar­went 52nd, 53rd)

St Mary's 4 Michel Poon-Angeron 7, Kyle Carrington 50, 59, Tyrese Spicer 86 pen) vs Trin­i­ty East 2 (J Mc Kree 9th, 20th)

East Mu­cu­rapo 2 (Daniel David 4th, Malachai 61st) vs St An­tho­ny's 0

San Juan 1 (Isa­iah Chase 59th) vs Pre­sen­ta­tion 1 (Jardel St Clair 83)

Na­pari­ma 2 (Nathaniel Per­ouse 25th, Jeron Pan­tor 64 pen) vs Trin­i­ty Mo­ka 0

2018 Fi­nal Pre­mier Di­vi­sion Stand­ing

Pos   Club   P   W   D   L   F   A   GD   Pts
1   Naparima   14   10   4   0   27   9   18   34
2   Presentation   14   10   3   1   30   12   18   33
3   San Juan   14   9   3   2   25   15   10   30
4   Carapichaima   14   7   3   4   25   22   3   24
5   St Benedict's   14   6   3   5   22   21   1   21
6   QRC   14   5   5   4   19   12   7   20
7   Mucurapo   14   6   2   6   24   21   3   20
8   Trinity Moka   14   5   4   5   21   31   -10   19
9   St Mary's   14   5   2   7   27   23   4   17
10   St Augustine   14   5   2   7   25   28   -3   17
11   Trinity East   14   3   7   4   15   15   0   16
12   St Anthony's   14   4   3   7   22   25   -3   15
13   Valencia   14   3   3   8   21   31   -10   12
14   Fatima   14   3   2   9   14   23   -9   11
15   Bishop's Tobago   14   0   2   12   12   41   -29   2

SOURCE: T&T Guardian & Newsday.