Cham­pi­on Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege-San Fer­nan­do will be­gin the de­fence of its Sec­ondary Schools Foot­ball League (SS­FL) Co­ca-Co­la Na­tion­al In­ter­Col when it clash­es with St Madeleine Sec­ondary in the South zon­al quar­ter­fi­nal at the Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, Mara­bel­la Thurs­day from 3.30 pm.

Pre­sen­ta­tion fin­ished third in the Pre­mier Di­vi­sion of the SS­FL with an in­fe­ri­or goal dif­fer­en­tial to Fa­ti­ma Col­lege with 35 points, and coach Shawn Coop­er's team will be ea­ger to move clos­er to the de­fence of their South Zone In­ter­Col ti­tle.

Man­ag­er An­dre Ben­jamin said his team is ready to de­fend their ti­tle.

"We can't and won't take any team for grant­ed but we're ready to de­fend our crown. The South Zone is usu­al­ly the most com­pet­i­tive zone as we've seen over the years that a South Zone team has made it to every In­ter­Col fi­nal since 2014, so it will be no easy task for us," Ben­jamin said yes­ter­day.

St Madeleine con­test­ed the Cham­pi­onship Di­vi­sion and fin­ished fourth on 13 points be­hind win­ner Pleas­antville Sec­ondary, sec­ond-place Rio Claro Sec­ondary and Point Fortin Sec­ondary in the third po­si­tion. The prize for the win­ner to­day will be a semi­fi­nal berth in the zone.

Al­so in the South Zone, Na­pari­ma Col­lege will be­gin against Point Fortin at 3.30 pm at Lewis Street, San Fer­nan­do. Na­pari­ma was edged in the semi­fi­nal of the In­ter­Col last year and if all goes ac­cord­ing to plan they can meet for a sec­ond time this year.

In the North Zone, Fa­ti­ma Col­lege, beat­en by Queen's Roy­al Col­lege (QRC) in the 2023 semi­fi­nal, will hope for a strong start against Mu­cu­rapo West Sec­ondary at St An­tho­ny's Col­lege Ground at 3.30 pm.

The Mu­cu­rapo-based team was boost­ed by a 5-0 drub­bing of Diego Mar­tin Cen­tral on Mon­day and may feel they can get the win they de­sire this af­ter­noon. Fa­ti­ma claimed the open­ing Na­tion­al Gas Com­pa­ny (NGC) of the T&T Su­per Cup in Sep­tem­ber but fell short of the Pre­mier Di­vi­sion ti­tle, fin­ish­ing be­hind an out­stand­ing St Bene­dict's Col­lege (41 points) in the sec­ond po­si­tion on 35 points.

In the East Zone, Ari­ma North Sec­ondary, beat­en twice in the League this sea­son, will be up against Holy Cross Col­lege in the first match of a dou­ble­head­er at the Ari­ma Velo­drome.

Thurs­day's match­es

SOUTH:

Pre­sen­ta­tion vs St Madeleine, Man­nie Ramjohn Sta­di­um, 3.30 pm

Na­pari­ma vs Point Fortin Sec, Lewis Street, San Fer­nan­do, 3.30 pm

NORTH:

Fa­ti­ma vs Mu­cu­rapo West Sec, St An­tho­ny's Col­lege Ground, 3.30 pm

St An­tho­ny's vs Trin­i­ty Mo­ka, QRC Ground, 3.30 pm

CEN­TRAL:

Cara­pichaima West Sec vs Pre­sen­ta­tion (Ch­agua­nas), Pre­sen­ta­tion Ground, 3.30 pm

EAST:

Ari­ma North vs Holy Cross, Ari­ma Velo­drome, 3.30 pm

Trin­i­ty Col­lege East vs Hillview Col­lege, Ari­ma Velo­drome, 5.30 pm

TO­BA­GO:

Ma­son Hall Sec vs Bish­op's High School, Shaw Park, 3.30 pm