Cara­pichaima East Sec­ondary lift­ed yet an­oth­er Tiger Tanks Sec­ondary Schools Foot­ball League’s Cen­tral Zone Co­ca-Co­la In­ter-Col crown af­ter a pul­sat­ing 6-5 sud­den-death penal­ty-kick win over Ch­agua­nas North Sec­ondary fol­low­ing a 2-2 draw in reg­u­la­tion-time at the Ato Boldon Sta­di­um in Bal­main, Cou­va, on Mon­day.

With the win, Cara­pichaima East set up a na­tion­al quar­ter­fi­nal clash against the win­ner of to­mor­row’s South Zone fi­nal be­tween Na­tion­al League cham­pi­ons St Bene­dict’s Col­lege and de­fend­ing In­ter­col ti­tle-hold­er Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege of San Fer­nan­do which al­so takes place at Cou­va from 3.30 pm.

Yes­ter­day’s en­counter got off to a fre­net­ic start on the heavy sur­face with Cara­pichaima East goal­keep­er and cap­tain Nicholai Rivers turn­ing the ball in­to his own net off a cor­ner from Ch­agua­nas North’s Nathan George.

How­ev­er, with­in five min­utes Cara­pichaima East would get back on lev­el terms when Josi­ah Hy­po­lite ran on­to a through ball and beat the ad­vanc­ing goal­keep­er, Aidan Ray­mond to his right.

The see-saw bat­tle then swung back in Ch­agua­nas North’s favour in the 19th minute when cap­tain Lee-Vann David ri­fled home a penal­ty kick fol­low­ing a call for an in­fringe­ment in the 18-yard box by ref­er­ee Ce­cile Hinds.

Just be­fore the half-time whis­tle, Cara­pichaima was pre­sent­ed with a chance to even up the match again from the penal­ty, but Ray­mond was equal to the task and de­nied Hy­po­lite.

Ray­mond’s joy was short­lived though as Hinds or­dered the spot-kick to be re­tak­en af­ter Ch­agua­nas North cus­to­di­an was deemed to have stepped off his goalline, and this time, Kae­don Thomp­son-Robin­son man­aged to score on the sec­ond at­tempt, af­ter his first ef­fort was blocked out by the goal­keep­er.

The sec­ond half failed to live up to the ex­pec­ta­tions of the first with chances few and far apart, with David wast­ing the lone clear-cut chance to snatch a late win for Ch­agua­nas North when an­oth­er er­ror by Rivers gift­ed him a close-range head­er which was cleared off the line.

From the re­sult­ing penal­ty kicks shootout, both goal­keep­ers man­aged to keep out one at­tempt each from the first five for a 4-4 score­line be­fore Michael Hem­lee’s sev­enth at­tempt for Ch­agua­nas North crashed off the cross­bar, which pre­sent­ed Elen An­drews with the chance to grab vic­to­ry for Cara­pichaima East, which he did with rel­a­tive ease.  

Tues­day, Sig­nal Hill and Ma­son Hall will con­test the To­ba­go Zone fi­nal at the Dwight Yorke Sta­di­um, Ba­co­let from 4 pm.

This af­ter Sig­nal Hill edged Spey­side High 2-1 and Ma­son Hall got the bet­ter of Bish­op’s High 4-2 on penal­ty kicks af­ter a 2-2 tie in reg­u­la­tion time in their re­spec­tive semi­fi­nals at the same venue last Tues­day.

Mon­day’s Co­ca-Co­la In­ter­col re­sults

Cen­tral Zone Fi­nal

Ch­agua­nas North 2 (Nicholai Rivers o.g 6th, Lee-Vann David 19th) vs Cara­pichaima East 2 (Josi­ah Hy­po­lite 11th, Kae­don Thomas-Robin­son 44th) - Cara­pichaima East won 6-5 on penal­ty kicks.

Up­com­ing Zon­al Fi­nals

To­day

To­ba­go Zone

Sig­nal Hill vs Ma­son Hall, Dwight Yorke Sta­di­um, Ba­co­let, 4 pm

To­mor­row

East Zone

San Juan North vs Trin­i­ty Col­lege East, Lar­ry Gomes Sta­di­um, Mal­abar, 3.30 pm

Fri­day

South Zone

St Bene­dict’s Col­lege vs Pre­sen­ta­tion Col­lege, Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va, 3.30 pm

Na­tion­al quar­ter­fi­nals

Mon­day, No­vem­ber 28

Cara­pichaima East vs South Zone win­ner, Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va, 3.30 pm

Semi­fi­nals

Thurs­day, De­cem­ber 1

Fa­ti­ma vs East Zone win­ner, Hase­ly Craw­ford Sta­di­um, Mu­cu­rapo, 4 pm

De­cem­ber 2

Cara­pichaima East/South Zone cham­pi­on win­ner vs To­ba­go Zone win­ner, Ato Boldon Sta­di­um, Cou­va, 3 pm

Fi­nal, De­cem­ber 7