Naparima College maintained their position at the top of the 15-team standings in the Premier Division of the Secondary Schools Football League after thrashing previously unbeaten Carapichaima Secondary at the team's Lewis Street, San Fernando Grounds 5-0 on Wednesday.
And in the process, the southerners have now made themselves the only unbeaten team in the league. How coincidental the Angus Eve-coached team are the ones to bring the unbeaten streaks to St Anthony's College, who beat Pleasantville Secondary 2-0 and Caps, the two last of the three unbeaten teams, to an end.
Naparima got a hat-trick from multi-talented midfielder Isa Bramble in the 30th, 36th and 52nd minutes while another from Molik Khan, the school's national under-15 player and an own-goal in the eighth minute completed the host victory in front of its home crowd.
Eve's men will now face arch-rivals Presentation College in their next match next Wednesday as the school will be on a bye for Saturday's round of matches.
At San Juan North Ground, however, the home team spurred on by its fans fired four goals past Malick Secondary in a 4-2 victory. But the win only ensured they maintained the seventh spot on the table.
San Juan with 11 points after nine matches wasted little time in settling in the match and the reward was almost immediate. Goalkeeper Jaydon Taylor misjudged the flight of Kareem John's well-floated cross from a right-side corner, and Malik Farrier headed it past him for the opening goal in the 13th minute.
San Juan's dominance in the early moments led them to a two-goal cushion. This time Kareem John found himself at the end of a neat build-up on the right side, and his thunderous right-footed drive was deflected into the path of Chase.
The latter's attempt at goal was then handled in the box by Haile Farrell in the 30th minute, forcing referee Cecily Assoon to point to the penalty spot. Chase then calmly slotted the ball past Taylor in the Malick goal.
Soon before the half-time interval Taylor picked up an injury and was replaced by inexperienced Tristan Perez.
After the break, Malick pulled a goal back from Zion Carpette from the penalty spot in the 49th minute. However, Daniel Best restored his team's two-goal advantage in the 64th, when he galloped through an open Malick defence from Chase's feed, and calmly slotted the ball past an onrushing Perez to the bottom right corner.
San Juan's influential striker Renaldo Boyce then pushed his team's tally to four goals, when John outsprinted his marker down the right flank and centred for Boyce to turned nicely on his marker, before firing his effort into the roof of the goal for a 4-1 lead in the 73rd minute.
But as the match approached the end of regulation time, Mamade Guerra raced on to a lifted pass by Nickell Alexander in the 83rd and rifled it past the goalie to reduce the score to 4-2.
At St Augustine, the home team hammered Speyside 7-2 courtesy of a hat-trick from Kyle Carrington and a brace from Tyrese Spencer. However, Speyside coach Kerry Lynch said his players were exhausted from having to play three games in five days.
WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS
Naparima 5 (own goal, Isa Bramble 3, Molik Khan) v Carapichaima 0
St Augustine 7 (Dwight Jordan 23rd, Kyle Carrington 33rd & 50th, Tyrese Spencer 56th, 86th Joshua Ambrose 61st) v Speyside 2 (Jelani James 45th, Adriel George 84th)
Trinity East 1 (Isaiah Williams) v East Mucurapo 0
St Anthony's 2 (Jean-Heim McFee, Jordan Barclay) v Pleasantville 0
San Juan 4 (Malik Farrier, Isaiah Chase, Daniel Best, Renaldo Boyce) v Malick 2 (Zion Carpette, Mamade Guerra)
St Benedict's 4 (Tyrik Lee 2, Jaydon Grant, Kanye Francis) v Trinity Moka 0
Latest Team Standings
Teams*P*W*D*L*F*A*GD*PTS
1*Naparima*11*9*2*0*30*10*20*29
2*St Anthony’s*10*7*2*1*32*10*22*23
3*Presentation College*9*7*1*1*25*6*19*22
4*Carapichaima Sec*10*5*4*1*16*14*2*19
5*East Mucurapo*10*5*3*2*18*9*9*18
6*QRC*9*5*1*3*18*20*-2*16
7*San Juan North*10*4*2*4*23*9*14*14
8*St Augustine*10*3*4*3*25*18*7*13
9*Trinity East*9*3*2*4*14*18*-4*11
10*Pleasantville Sec*10*3*1*6*12*15*-3*10
11*Malick Sec*11*3*1*7*17*23*-6*10
12*St Benedict’s*10*3*1*6*12*19*-7*10
13*Speyside Sec*10*2*2*6*13*32*-19*8
14*Trinity Moka*10*1*1*8*11*35*-24*4
15*St Mary’s*10*1*1*8*5*34*-29*4
