THE big boys were winners yesterday as St Benedict’s College and Trinity East exposed the gulf between Premier and Championship division football, both scoring huge wins over lower division opponents as East and South Coca-Cola InterCol quarter-finals took place across the country.
Premier Division league champions St Benedict’s College showed little respect to Championship Division Ste Madeleine Secondary in a South Zone clash, shutting out their overmatched opponents 8-0.
Meanwhile, San Juan North and Trinity East both easily advanced to the East Zone semis phase. Trinity East routed lower division Five Rivers Secondary 9-1, while San Juan North coasted to an 8-0 drubbing of Holy Cross College.
There was very little unpredictability to those encounters, but a more par contest saw Arima North Secondary and El Dorado East draw goalless, before Arima North prevailed 4-3 on kicks from the penalty mark, in an all-Championship Division contest at Larry Gomes Stadium, Malabar.
Also at Larry Gomes, Five Rivers were only temporarily in the fight at 2-1, before conceding seven unanswered goals. Five Rivers’ game-high came with Kymani Neptune’s solo run ending with a deflected shot past Trinity East goalkeeper Omari George.
That was as good as it got for the East Championship Division Five Rivers as Trinity East led 4-1 at half-time.
Having impressively copped the 2022 Tiger Tanks Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) title recently, St Benedict’s led 1-0 with their first attack, when after just 23 seconds Josiah Ochiah stabbed a low shot into the goal after running onto a through ball.
After brief defensive resistance from Ste Madeleine, Keno Morain added another from long-range and by half-time the “La Romaine Lions” were comfortably ahead 5-0 at Mahaica Oval. By the end Moraine, Derrel Garcia, Nicholas Bobcombe had each netted a brace while Tariq Lee and Josiah Ochoa both scored once.
And relegated --from the Premier Division-- St Augustine Secondary got a brief scare before whipping Championship Division outfit Valencia Secondary 6-3. The teams were tied at 3-3 at one point before the “Green Machine” pulled away. Both Alex Piper and Jamal Cooper scored hat-tricks.
Yesterday’s InterCol results:
EAST ZONE
San Juan North Sec 8 vs Holy Cross College 0
Trinity College East 9 vs Five Rivers Sec 1
Arima North Sec 0 ve El Dorado East Sec 0 (Arima North won 4-3 on penalty kicks)
St Augustine Sec 6 vs Valencia Sec 3
SOUTH ZONE
St Benedicts College 8 vs Ste Madeleine Sec 0
Presentation College S’Do 3 vs Point Fortin East 0
SOURCE: T&T Express
17