Presentation San Fernando’s football team were in their glee on Wednesday after erasing last year’s disappointing second place finish in the Secondary Schools Football League by clinching the title this year.
Their coach, Sean Cooper, was in a celebratory mood after they were crowned 2012 champions with a dominating performance this season.
The Presentation College “Lions” maintained their unbeaten run in this year’s edition of the tournament when they roared to a 4-0 victory over Pleasantville Secondary in their final zonal match at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium, Marabella. Altogether, they recorded an unassailable 33pts from 11 matches.
After being clipped of the zonal title last year due to a point deduction penalty, the Presentation coach admitted that revenge carried a sweet and delightful taste. “This year was retribution for the 2011 season. We had a flawless run of performances in our matches this year and the team deserved it.
Last year, when the title was taken away from us, we were hurt. Nevertheless, with one hundred percent of wins this year, we’re on the right track and we’re looking for bigger things now,” he explained.
With the nation’s five zonal champions already named, Cooper revealed that his team is determined to claim top honours in the remaining League and Intercol tournaments.
Meanwhile, retaining their national zonal titles were St Anthony’s (North) and Carapichaima (Central). Arima copped the East Zone, while the Tobago zone is still yet to be decided.
Presentation will open their BGTT Big Five campaign on Monday, when they face the East Zone champions at the Larry Gomes Stadium from 3.45pm. Cooper openly stated that neither he, nor his squad, will be intimidated by any other contesting school.
“We’re going for the National title. The boys are so focussed on this right now and we’re not backing down, ” said Cooper. “We know that they’re a lot of big teams in the north and it is going to be tough for us. However, champions win away from home. With our one hundred percent record so far, we’re not giving up. It will all boil down to who wants it (title) more, and who’s the better team on the day.”
Cooper also revealed that the south winners will be without their star- striker Shackiel Henry and right-wingback Anthony Charles for Monday’s clash.
The duo, along with Arima’s Marcus Gomez, are expected to join the rest of the national Under-20 team for their Caribbean Football Union (CFU) final round match against Jamaica next week. Cooper was well aware that he would be losing two key players for the Arima encounter, but held in high regard the smooth transition of tactical players of his team.