In the battle of the private schools, Mae’s Secondary squeaked past arch-rivals School of the Nations 3-2 when the third annual Milo/Petra Organization Secondary Schools u-20 football tourney continued yesterday at the Ministry of Education ground.
Hakiem Hutson opened the scoring for Mae’s Secondary in the 14th minute, finishing into the back of the net from inside the centre of the box, after collecting a right sided cross following a free kick.
School of the Nations would then suffer an unfortunate setback in the 53rd minute as Marcel Persaud was issued a red card for denying a goal bound strike with his arm following an indirect free kick within the area.
Stepping up to take the penalty was Darshan Persaud who calmly converted his left footed penalty kick into the left hand corner of the net.
Despite their numerical handicap, School of the Nations would reduce the deficit as Shaquille Bess scored in the 62nd minute, stabbing home down centre of the goal from inside the box after collecting a left side pass.
However, Mae’s would restore their two goal advantage three minutes onward as Persaud netted his second with a finish into the left corner from inside the box, after breaking the offside trap to be in a one-on-one situation with the goalkeeper.
School of the Nations would eventually pull one back once more as Lyndon Dorway scored in the 70th minute compliments of a clinical header into the right hand corner, after latching onto right sided cross within centre of the box.
Also securing a spot in the knockout round was Queen’s College, who trounced North Georgetown Secondary 5-0. Jaydev Mona led the way with hat-trick in the 17th, 20th and 31st minutes while Stephen King completed the result with a double in the fifth and 25th minutes. Further misery would heaped on the losers as Akeem Adams was sent off in the 30th minute after picking up his second bookable offence. Similarly clinching a berth to the knockout round was Morgan Learning Institute who defeated Houston Secondary via walkover.
The final fixture of the day saw Kingston Secondary walloping David Rose Secondary 10-0 to clinch their berth in the next round. Vincent Thomas led the assault with goals in the 11th, 13th, 15th and 23rd minutes while Allister Holder netted in the 39th, 43rd and 50th minutes.
Ryan Trotz also recorded a double in the 46th and 49th minutes while own goal in the 20th minute added to the score line.
Winners of the event will pocket the championship trophy and $500,000 towards the building of any school project while the second, third and fourth placed sides will pocket $300,000, $200,000 and $100,000 respectively towards the funding of a school venture and the corresponding accolade.
On the individual side, awards will be given for the event’s most valuable player, highest goal scorer and best goal keeper while four full scholarships to attend Chase Academy free of cost will also be up for grabs.
The action is set to continue at the same venue on Saturday.
