​Af­ter hav­ing to sur­ren­der the Sec­ondary Schools Foot­ball League (SS­FL) Pre­mier Di­vi­sion ti­tle in 2024, St Bene­dict’s Col­lege is de­ter­mined not to re­peat that cost­ly mis­take with just two rounds of match­es to go.

The La Ro­main Li­ons were on the doorstep with the ti­tle last sea­son, hav­ing amassed an unas­sail­able point tal­ly, but their use of strik­er Der­rel “Zoom Zoom” Gar­cia in four match­es was ruled il­le­git­i­mate, cost­ing them the crown.

St Bene­dict’s, lead­ers af­ter the last round of match­es on Tues­day, will come face-to-face Fri­day (Oc­to­ber 31) with St Mary’s Col­lege at their home ground, Ma­haica Sport­ing Com­plex in Point Fortin.

The La Ro­main Li­ons over­took pre­vi­ous lead­ers Na­pari­ma Col­lege af­ter beat­ing Mal­ick Sec­ondary 3-1 at home. How­ev­er, sixth-place St Mary Col­lege could be a tricky test. St Mary’s man­ag­er Bri­an Charles, who co­in­ci­den­tal­ly is a for­mer stu­dent of St Bene­dict’s, de­tailed a list of chal­lenges fac­ing his squad to­day.

“We are ex­pe­ri­enc­ing some se­ri­ous is­sues to­day with some four to five play­ers out, due to in­juries or sus­pen­sion. We have de­fend­er Jay­lon Roberts, cen­tre-back Khalil Ser­rette, and strik­ers Josi­ah Hunte and Jay­lon Man­swell all out due to in­juries. We al­so have an­oth­er play­er, Nadeem Grant, who is a util­i­ty play­er on sus­pen­sion, hav­ing re­ceived a red card in their last game. So yes, we have been de­plet­ed in both at­tack and de­fence, but the good thing is that at St Mary’s Col­lege, we love a chal­lenge. In fact, we strive un­der chal­lenges,” Charles told the Guardian Me­dia Sport.

“If it’s a nor­mal game, we do not play well. That’s why one of our bet­ter games for the sea­son was against Fa­ti­ma Col­lege, which end­ed in a 2-2 tie. So, to­day (Fri­day), we will be un­der­dogs, but St Mary’s will be ready to fight.”

“The Saints”, as they are nor­mal­ly called, are sixth on the 16-team stand­ings with 18 points from 12 match­es. In their last match against San Juan North Sec­ondary on Tues­day, goals from Ja­mari Gilkes and Finn De Fre­itas se­cured max­i­mum points in a 2-1 tri­umph. The Port-of-Spain-based team is out of the race for the Pre­mier Di­vi­sion ti­tle, but it will be aim­ing to fin­ish as close to the top as pos­si­ble. St Mary’s Col­lege will close off its cam­paign against an­oth­er gi­ant, Na­pari­ma Col­lege, next Tues­day.

​St Bene­dict’s will be chal­lenged for the ti­tle by Fa­ti­ma Col­lege, the even­tu­al 2024 cham­pi­ons. Last Tues­day, Fa­ti­ma made a pow­er­ful state­ment by ham­mer­ing low­ly Cara­pichaima East Sec­ondary 11-0. To­day, they face St An­tho­ny’s Col­lege in West­moor­ings, while Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege and Na­pari­ma Col­lege, who are both tied on 28 points, will be up against Cara­pichaima Sec­ondary and Sig­nal Hill Sec­ondary, re­spec­tive­ly.

Friday’s match­es

• ↓Fa­ti­ma vs St An­tho­ny’s, Fa­ti­ma Ground, 3.30 pm

• ↓Na­pari­ma vs Sig­nal Hill, Lewis Street, 3.30 pm

• ↓Pre­sen­ta­tion vs Cara­pichaima, Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, 3.30 pm

• ↓Scar­bor­ough vs QRC, Scar­bor­ough Ground, 3.30 pm

• ↓St Au­gus­tine vs Trin­i­ty East, St Au­gus­tine, 3.30 pm

• ↓St Bene­dict’s vs St Mary’s, Ma­haica Sport­ing Com­plex, 3.30 pm

• ↓Mal­ick vs Trin­i­ty Mo­ka, St An­tho­ny’s Ground, 3.30 pm

• ↓Ari­ma North vs San Juan North, Ari­ma Velo­drome, 3.30 pm