The league’s leading goalscorer, Ricardo John added another pair of goals to his tally yesterday, when he and three other combined to hand San Juan North a 5-0 away loss, to become the first team this season to secure the league title in the BGTT First Citizens Secondary Schools Football League, yesterday.
St Augustine, which was up 3-0 by half time, got its other goals from Aikim Andrews, Triston Hodge and Jesse Joseph, to secures its tenth win in 11 matches, drawing just one. The Green Machine took over from last year’s champion Arima North Secondary, which currently sits fifth with two matches remaining.
While St Augustine has clinched the title, other teams in the zone will be seeking a top four spot which will assure the team a spot in next year’s inaugural SSFL Premier League.
On the contrary to the East Zone, South Zone’s top team Presentation College San Fernando suffered its first defeat in over two years yesterday when it was stunned 3-2 by St Benedict’s College.
Shackiel Henry opened with a brace in the first half, before St Benedict’s ran riot in a come-from-behind effort, courtesy a double from Yafeu Rougier in the second half. St Benedict’s win put the team over newly-promoted Mayaro (on a bye) in fourth spot, while it halted Presentation’s celebrations.
Naparima College, which played one match more than Presentation closed in by two points with a 4-1 win over Princes Town.
In Central, Couva West officially announced its withdrawal from the league this season, which meant its matches played, all of which were losses, are no longer counted in the standings. Nevertheless, Carapichaima East, the Big-Five champion eased past Presentation College Chaguanas 8-0 to go within a point of the title.
Chaguanas North also won massive, 11-0 over Tabaquite, but will face Carapichaima in the final league match. If Chaguanas North wins the match, they will win the title on goal difference.
Up North, St Mary’s College which started the day with a five-point lead over East Mucurapo, saw the deficit cut to just three points following a disappointing display away to QRC. St Mary’s scored late through Aaron Noel, who was subsequently ejected supposedly for directing abusive language to the referee.
East Mucurapo, meanwhile, stayed in the challenge with a narrow 1-0 win over Diego Martin, while St Anthony’s also remained barely alive with a massive 6-0 win over bottom-of-the-table Malick Secondary.
St Mary is on a bye this weekend, while St Anthony’s meets QRC. East Mucurapo will entertain Fatima in the other match. On the deciding round next Wednesday, St Anthony’s will host East Mucurapo, while St Mary’s takes on Malick.
Results
North Zone
St Anthony’s 6 (Shaquille Long 3, Kadeem Corbin, Rasheed Simon, Dwayne Calliste) vs Malick 0
East Mucurapo 1 (Akeem Roach 83rd) vs Diego Martin North 0
QRC 1 vs St Mary’s 1 (Aaron Noel)
East Zone
St Augustine 5 (Ricardo John 2, Aikim Andrews, Triston Hodge, Jesse Joseph) vs San Juan North 0
Trinity East 1 vs Valencia 0
Arima North 0 vs El Dorado West 0
Central Zone
Carapichaima East 8 (Simon Joseph 3, Justin Joseph 2, Larry Brown 2, Dareem Cox) vs Presentation College Chaguanas 0
Chaguanas North 11 vs Tabaquite 0
South Zone
Shiva Boys 2 (Shaquille Williams 56th, Kyle Sylvester 81st) vs Pleasantville 1 (Gared London 31st)
St Benedicts 3 (Tyler Williams, Yafeu Rougier 2) vs Presentation 2 (Shackiel Henry 12th, 16th)
Naparima 4 (Nicholas Dillon 12th, 55th, Akinola Gregory 27th, Jabari Mitchell 82nd) vs Princes Town 1
Tobago
Speyside 2 (Brendon Benjamin, Sieon Skeete) vs Pentecostal L&L 0
Goodwood 1 vs Mason Hall 1
Signal Hill 0 vs Roxborough 0
Scarborough 2 vs Bishop’s 1
SSFL Standings
North Zone
Team Pld W D L F A Pts
St Mary’s 11 8 2 1 27 12 26
East Mucurapo 10 7 2 1 18 8 23
St Anthony’s 10 7 1 2 28 10 22
Fatima College 10 4 2 4 17 19 14
Diego Martin North 10 2 2 6 8 18 8
QRC 11 2 1 8 15 24 7
Malick 10 1 0 9 9 31 3
East Zone
Team Pld W D L F A Pts
St Augustine 11 10 1 0 45 2 28
El Dorado West 10 6 2 2 24 10 20
Trinity East 10 6 0 4 15 13 18
San Juan 10 5 0 5 18 23 15
Arima North 10 5 1 4 17 18 16
El Dorado East 10 2 0 8 4 21 6
Valencia 11 0 0 11 1 37 0
Central Zone
Team Pld W D L F A Pts
Carapichaima 7 7 0 0 47 6 21
Chaguanas 7 6 0 1 54 5 18
Presentation 6 2 0 4 14 21 6
Tabaquite 6 2 0 4 11 26 6
Vishnu 7 0 0 7 6 65 0
South Zone
Team Pld W D L F A Pts
Presentation 10 7 2 1 26 6 23
Naparima 11 6 3 2 21 13 21
Shiva Boys 11 4 4 3 18 17 16
St Benedict’s 9 4 2 3 14 12 14
Mayaro 9 3 3 3 9 14 12
Princes Town 10 2 1 7 10 18 7
Pleasantville 10 1 1 8 3 20 4
Tobago
Team Pld W D L F A Pts
Speyside 12 9 2 1 38 11 29
Mason Hall 12 7 2 3 29 14 23
Scarborough 11 6 4 1 18 7 22
Roxborough 11 5 4 2 24 15 19
Pentecostal 12 3 4 5 10 22 12
Signal Hill 12 2 4 6 19 22 9
Bishop’s High 12 2 3 7 13 24 9
Goodwood 12 1 2 9 9 45 5