Kelon Skerritt netted three goals to ensure Paragon entered the Carnival break with a win, coming from behind to pull off a 7-5 defeat of Defence Force in the T&T Hockey Board's Open Men's Division at the Woodbrook Youth Facility in Port-of-Spain on Saturday.
This after the army/coastguard combination team put Paragon, coached by national player Akim Toussaint, on the backfoot following three unanswered goals early in the clash. Isaiah Scott opened the scoring in the second minute with Marcus James adding another in the sixth. A minute later, Che Modeste (7th) put Defence Force further ahead 3-0.
Paragon though managed to pull one back before the end of the first period thanks to Skeritt, who found the back of the net in the 10th minute, to have his team trailing 3-1 going into the second stanza. It was here that Paragon became far more competitive and came within one (3-2) with an item from Joel Daniel in the 14th.
However, Defence Force, coached by T&T men's coach and former national goal-keeper Glen "Fido" Francis, kept attacking and regained a two-goal lead through Mickel Pierre in the 16th to hold a 4-2 advantage at the half.
On the resumption, Paragon again chipped one off the soldier/sailor combination unit's lead when Skeritt scored his second item and his team's third and then Kalebh Quashie equalised with a 23rd-minute item (4-4). Defence Forceregained the lead once again off of Modeste in the 28th to go up, 5-4.
Stunningly, Defence Force went goalless in the fourth quarter as Paragon upped its defence. On the offensive side, the eventual winner returned the favour by adding three more unanswered goals themselves to close the affair.
Skeritt scored the equalising goal in the 35th while his teammates Sheldon McKellar (39th) and Daniel (40th) netted the remaining two items, respectively.
In the other match in the division, Malvern and the Queen's Park Cricket Club (QPCC) shared points as they played to a 4-4 draw.
Marcus Pascal (7th, 24th, 31st) scored a hattrick for QPCC and Kadeem Fortune (38th) scored the other for QPCC while Shawn Phillip (18th), Daniel Byer (29th, 36th) and Sheldon Phillip (40th) were the goal-scorers for Malvern.
Results
Open Men
Defence Force 5 (Isaiah Scott 2nd, Marcus James 6th, Che Modeste 7th, 28th, Mickel Pierre 16th) vs Paragon 7 (Kelon Skerritt 10th, 21st, 35th, Joel Daniel 14th, 40th, Kalebh Quashie 23rd, Sheldon McKellar 39th).
Open Men
Malvern 4 (Shawn Phillip 18, Daniel Byer 29th, 36th, Sheldon Phillip 40th) vs QPCC 4 (Marcus Pascal 7th, 24th, 31st, Kadeem Fortune 38th).
Under-19 Boys
Fatima 6 (Roshane Hamilton 8th, 29th, Ghardel Elcock 14th, Matthew Perreira 21st, 37th, Alexei Mohammed 22nd) vs SHAPE 3 (Wayne Edwards 23rd, Leumas Neptune 36th, 40th)
Open Women
Magnolia 2 (Amie Olton 30th, Savannah DeFreitas 36th) vs Paragon 1 (Naomi Sampson 37th).
Trinity Women
Police 2 (Teneil Garcia 21st, 30th) vs Magnolia 2 (Toni Campbell-Warren 23rd, 33rd).
Mixed Vets
Shape 13 (Randall Jackman 3rd, 20th, 27th, 31st, 36th, John Hernandez 4th, 5th, 29th, 40th, Leroy Sookdeo 7th, Johnathan Williams 8th, 9th, 25th) vs Notre Dame 10 (Garth Baptiste 13th, 30th, 35th, Akil Nancoo 15th, 18th, Gregory Garraway 19th, 28th, Douglas Comacho 20th, Lorraine Ferguson 23rd, 38th).