St Augustine Secondary Comprehensive learned yesterday they can ill afford to become lethargic in the RBTT InterCol competition, while Trinity College East got a sneak preview into Championship Division football.
St Augustine will now meet Arima Secondary Comprehensive, who eased past Hillview College 4-0 to book their place in the East "semis".
Still, Trinity can claim they did test the nerves of their more seasoned opponents, in an encounter that did not produce the type of fluent, dominant football expected of the 2006 Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) "Big Five" champs.
The Arima venue was hardly bulging with St Augustine supporters, with Trinity's handful of followers outnumbering the Green Machine faithful.
St Augustine failed to inspire the few hoping for a big win from them in the first period, their best chance coming from national Under-17 player Daniel Joseph, who had a good solo effort thwarted by Trinity goalie Christopher Edwards. And as the seconds wound down to the interval, Trinity grew in confidence that they could upstage their opponents.
That opportunity came to Trinity seven minutes into the second half. Skipper Marvin Springer-Trinity's best player on the day-made one of his searching runs down the left side and was felled in the six-metre box.
Springer then stepped up to bury the resultant penalty past St Augustine custodian Joel Johnson for a 1-0 lead.
Trinity's players seemed almost surprised they had gone ahead, so jubilant was their celebrations and lusty the applause in the stands.
But the concession only succeeded in causing the Green Machine to sputter, then roar to life.
Substitute Brandon Rupert equalised in the 61st, after some consistent pressure. He embarked on a strong solo run towards the penalty area, evading two defenders before piercing Edwards' net as he advanced.
Six minutes went by before St Augustine finally grabbed the lead. Experienced striker Kareem Paul, who had been somewhat lethargic for most of the encounter, collected a pass down the right and outpaced his marker, cut inside the area and rifled past Edwards.
Johnson's heart must have fluttered on 77 minutes, when Springer raced onto a through ball and beat him, but also the far post, missing a glorious chance to level proceedings.
Springer would have felt the miss when another substitute, Theon Forde-Edwards, put the match beyond Trinity.
Rupert played a neat back-heel to Forde-Edwards and he obliged, burying his first-time shot from 18 metres out to cap off a 3-1 win.
Perhaps St Augustine coach Michael Grayson and company can argue that almost three weeks' rest following their league campaign may have made his players start sluggishly. For their sakes, he would also be hoping yesterday's match is enough to set his team back on track and ready for the tough road ahead.
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