NIGEL SI­MON

Se­nior Mul­ti­me­dia Re­porter

nigel.si­mon@guardian.co.tt

De­fend­ing Na­tion­al In­ter-Col cham­pi­ons Fa­ti­ma Col­lege will be con­fi­dent of tak­ing an­oth­er gi­ant step to­wards end­ing their 45-year Na­tion­al Sec­ondary Schools Foot­ball League (SS­FL) Boys’ Pre­mier Di­vi­sion ti­tle drought when they host low­ly Bish­op’s High School at Fa­ti­ma Col­lege Ground, Mu­cu­rapo from 3.30 pm.

With four match­es left for the top sev­en teams on the 16-team ta­ble, the Hut­son Charles-coached two-time (1973 & 1978) na­tion­al league cham­pi­ons Fa­ti­ma Col­lege who end­ed their 17-year In­ter-Col drought at the na­tion­al lev­el last year at the ex­pense of dou­ble-crown chas­ing St Bene­dict’s Col­lege and came from be­hind to beat Mal­ick Sec­ondary 4-2 last time out head the ta­ble with 28 points, three more than San Juan North Sec­ondary while four-time win­ners Na­pari­ma Col­lege and St Bene­dict’s Col­lege are next with 23 points each, close­ly fol­lowed by the trio of for­mer cham­pi­ons in St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege with 22, Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege of San Fer­nan­do with 21, and the pro­mot­ed Ari­ma North Sec­ondary, the sur­prise pack­age of the sea­son, next with 19.

At the oth­er end of the ta­ble, Bish­op’s High School is locked on three points with cel­lar-placed Ch­agua­nas North Sec­ondary, just one point be­hind 14th-placed Pleas­antville, but eight adrift of Trin­i­ty East Col­lege which oc­cu­pies the 13th spot, and is safe for now from rel­e­ga­tion.

Speak­ing ahead of his team’s match Charles said de­spite the low­ly plac­ing of Bish­op’s High he has warned his play­ers about com­pla­cen­cy.

“We had a tight match against Ch­agua­nas North and they are al­so in the bot­tom part of the ta­ble, so the guys know that we will need to ap­proach the game against Bish­op’s just as if we are go­ing to face one of the oth­er teams go­ing af­ter the ti­tle.”

“The match­es may seem easy look­ing in from the out­side, but we still have to go out there and get the job done, and that’s what we have in­stilled in the play­er,” stat­ed Charles, a for­mer na­tion­al mid­field­er and se­nior team coach.

San Juan North, com­ing off a ti­tle-dent­ing 1-0 loss away to St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege will be keen to get back to win­ning ways if they stand any chance of se­cur­ing the ti­tle when they face a tricky test in Mal­ick Sec­ondary at Bourg Mu­la­tresse, San Juan.

In the oth­er key match­es, Na­pari­ma Col­lege trav­els to Spey­side in To­ba­go; Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege of San Fer­nan­do is away to St Mary’s Col­lege in St Clair; St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege is at home to Trin­i­ty Col­lege East at West­moor­ings, St Bene­dict’s Col­lege en­ter­tains Queen’s Roy­al Col­lege at the Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la, and Ari­ma North Sec­ondary trav­els to Ch­agua­nas North Sec­ondary.

To­day’s SS­FL Round 12 Boys’ Pre­mier Di­vi­sion match­es:

Fa­ti­ma Col­lege vs Bish­op’s High @ Fa­ti­ma Col­lege Grd, Mu­cu­rapo Rd, 3.30 pm

Ch­agua­nas North Sec vs Ari­ma North Sec @ Ed­in­burgh 500 Rec. Grd, 3.45 pm

East Mu­cu­rapo Sec vs Pleaas­antville Sec @ Trin­i­ty Col­lege Grd, Mar­aval, 3.30 pm

San Juan North Sec vs Mal­ick Sec @ San Juan North Sec Grd, Bourg Mu­la­tresse, 3.45 pm

Spey­side High vs Na­pari­ma Col­lege @ Spey­side Rec. Grd, Spey­side, 3.30 pm

St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege vs Trin­i­ty Col­lege East @ West­m­mor­ings, 3.45 pm

St Mary’s Col­lege vs Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege @ St Mary’s Col­lege Grd, St Clair, 3.45 pm

St Bene­dict’s Col­lege vs QRC @ Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la, 3.45 pm

Cur­rent stand­ings:

Po­si­tion Team P W D L F A Pts

1*Fa­ti­ma*11*9*1*1*40*7*28

2*San Juan North*11*8*1*2*28*11*25

3*Na­pari­ma*11*7*2*2*40*7*23

4*St Bene­dict’s*11*7*2*2*30*8*23

5*St An­tho­ny’s*11*7*1*3*29*14*22

6*Pre­sen­ta­tion*11*6*3*2*15*6*21

7*Ari­ma North*11*5*4*2*18*7*19

8*East Mu­cu­rapo*11*4*2*5*15*23*14

9*Spey­side*11*4*2*5*12*21*14

10*Mal­ick*11*4*1*6*31*19*13

11*St Mary’s*11*4*1*6*23*34*13

12*QRC*11*4*1*6*23*22*13

13*Trin­i­ty East*10*3*2*5*15*14*11

14* Pleas­antville*11*1*1*8*7*52*4

15*Bish­op’s High*10*1*0*9*5*31*3

16*Ch­agua­nas North*11*1*0*10*3*58*3

SS­FL Pre­mier Di­vi­sion top scor­ers:

11 - Mala­cai Webb (St Bene­dict’s)

10 - Oba Samuel (Mal­ick), Aiden De Gannes (Fa­ti­ma)

9 - Ryan Radel­lant (St Mary’s), Michael Chaves (Fa­ti­ma)

8 - Kyle Phillip (St Mary’s), Nathan Quashie, Lin­dell Sween (San Juan North),

7 - Kanye Fran­cis (Na­pari­ma), Ja­heem Dan­clair (San Juan North), Tevin Pan­tor (Na­pari­ma), Stephon James (QRC), Vaughn Clement (Pre­sen­ta­tion), Daniel Jones (St Bene­dict’s)

6 - An­dell Fras­er, Jean-Marc Thomas (St An­tho­ny’s), Tyrell Sta­ple­ton (Ari­ma North), Khaleem Prince (Trin­i­ty East),

5 - Jonathan Ma­son (Fa­ti­ma), Kelon Williams (Pleas­antville), Jaden Grant, (St Bene­dict’s), Aalon Wil­son-Wright (St An­tho­ny’s), Tau Lam­see (QRC)

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4 - Akiel Vesprey, Jaron Pas­call (Na­pari­ma), Clint Latch­man (East Mu­cu­rapo), Theo Cravador, Morde­cai Ford (St An­tho­ny’s), Chris­t­ian Bai­ley (Fa­ti­ma), Malachi Wood­ley (Mal­ick), Mic­ah Nel­son (QRC)

3 - J’Lon Matthews, Jor­dan Fer­di­nand, Ke­ston Richards (Mal­ick), N’kosi Quah­sie (Spey­side), Jonathan Ma­son, Ca­den Tre­strail (Fa­ti­ma), Adah Bar­clay (Pre­sen­ta­tion), Eli­jah Wong (St Mary’s), Josi­ah Coop­er (Na­pari­ma), Mus­sadiq Mo­hammed (QRC), Stephano Christo­pher (Ari­ma North), Jadon Mc Shine (East Mu­cu­rapo)

2 - Justin Al­can­tar, Ca­den Tre­strail (Fa­ti­ma), Ronald­in­ho Richards, Tyrese Man­swell (Mal­ick), Kevin Fran­cois, Jabari Forbes, Jk­won Bai­ley, Xar­i­on France, Nathaniel O’Gar­ro (Na­pari­ma), Dar­i­on Mar­fan, Je­maul Ash­ing (Ari­ma North), Lenox East­man, Omar Daniel, Riquelme Phillip (Spey­side), Ma­lik Wil­son (Bish­op’s High), Maa­lik Jarvis (East Mu­cu­rapo), Jadiel Joseph (San Juan North), Josi­ah Ochoa (St Bene­dict’s), Jonathan Em­rit (Trin­i­ty East),

1 - Nekayse Moore, Ne­gaste Moore, Justin Lewis (Ch­agua­nas North), Abe­y­o­mi George, Levi Jones, Kaielle El­liot, Duhrell Young (Pre­sen­ta­tion), Teshaun Franklyn, Ker­ry Bap­tiste Jr, Philip Nel­son, Jay­den Christophe (QRC), Je­re­mi­ah Niles, Keanu More­an, Der­rel Gar­cia, Ethan Trot­man, Nathan George (St Bene­dict’s), Levi Smith, Thomas De­cle, Kade Col­lier, Jaden Williams, Luke Cor­reia, Yohance Ather­ton (Fa­ti­ma), An­to­nio Sealey, Ac­k­eem James, Isa­iah David, Zachary Joseph (Mal­ick), Tyrel Ra­joon, Aaron Ray­mond, Is­rael Joseph, (Na­pari­ma), Daniel Rose, Oba­di­ah Eye­ad­el­rosiy­hia, Rus­sel Fran­cois, Amari Dun­bar (St An­tho­ny’s), Omar Daniel, Shy­on George, N’Kosi Quashie, Riquelme Phillips (Spey­side), Tyler Ay­ers, Theron O’Brien, Abil­i­ty Hazel, Tony Figuera, Criston Gomez (Ari­ma North), Mar­ley Cal­len­der, Ale­jan­dro Harp­er, Ab­dil-Ju­nior Ab­dul-Ha­keem (St Mary’s), Jahdel Chase-Charles, Elizsha Rogers, Joshua Lewis (San Juan North), Kadeem Plaza, Hasheem Hill, Seretse Browne, Je­re­mi­ah Frank-Williams, Josi­ah Fi­garo, Dex­ter Croal, Keslon Pierre (Trin­i­ty East), Damario Hen­ry, Khaieem Lewis (Bish­op’s High), Malachi Hen­ry, Ma­lik Xavier, Je­mon Gul­ston, Bran­don Parks, Nieem Tay­lor, Al-Kalipha Hen­ry (East Mu­cu­rapo), Kiev Robert­son (Pleas­antville)

Own goals : 8.