The light shone brightly for Fatima College as the curtains came down on the First Citizens National Secondary Schools Water Polo League on Sunday evening. Playing an intense final against defending champions, St Mary's College, the Mucurapo Road boys sought nothing but gold, with Ryan Weste putting the first mark on the score board a little over one minute into the game. But two minutes later CIC's Jake Gillette brought the scores back even. The Fatima captain, Mattheaus Otero would have none of it and smashed one of his own into the back of the net to finish the first six-minute quarter with a 2�1 lead.
In the second period, the saints quickly fired back with a goal from Jonathan Gillette, and then another from his cousin Jake for CIC to take the lead for the first time. Daniel Tardieu, who seemed to be on fire, blazed on the heat, tying up the scores once again for Fatima College. Alec Chin Lee would pull CIC ahead, but only for a moment, as Russell Ferreira would first level the scores, then forge ahead with another goal to give Fatima the 5�4 advantage. With an exclusion foul on Chin Lee, just seconds before the end, the long-armed Weste would take advantage of the man-up situation to finish the half 6�4. At the start of the second half, good defense on either side halted the scoreline for a while, until Tardieu broke the silence and stretched the lead to 7�4. But Jason Rodriguez fought back for the saints, putting in a goal which he seemed to pull out of his bag of tricks.
Chin Lee then reciprocated on an excluded Fatima player and netted his man-up situation to pull back his team to within one goal. Unfortunately for St Mary's, the next man-up opportunity was not successful enough to level the scores. But with two minutes to go in the third period, Ferreira would again strike and finish the quarter with Fatima up eight goals to six. In the final quarter, Otero wanted to ensure his team's success in its quest for gold, as he scored two more on the CIC goalie, Daniel Alvarez, to increase the margin to four goals. Rodriguez, who never gave up for the "Frederick Street boys," would net another with just 2:31 left in the game. But his efforts seemed in vain as Tardieu would soon retain the Fatima lead on its archrival.
With less than two minutes left, realisation of defeat seemed hit the St Mary's fans, who had seen victory for seven consecutive years. There was no more scoring for Fatima, but two consolation goals in the last minute of the game, by Chin Lee and cousin Alec Chin Lee respectively, sought to pacify the situation. But as the final whistle sounded, it was jubilation on the Fatima bench as they created history, winning for the first time in history in the senior division. With this victory, they now join the ranks of achieving what only QRC and CIC had so far done.