LODGE Secondary School began their quarterfinal encounter in the Georgetown zone of this year’s Digicel-sponsored nationwide Inter-Secondary School football competition against Tucville, at the Carifesta Sports Complex ground yesterday afternoon, knowing that their opponents were out for revenge. But thanks to a brace from Demanuel Harris, (he got it before being red-carded) and single strikes from Sherwin Joseph and Jarrel Thom, Lodge triumphed 4-2 to advance to the semifinals, where they are scheduled to face Queen’s College at the same venue tomorrow afternoon.
Tucville commenced the contest against their opponents, who won their protest over Carmel Secondary, with 10 men and following a keen exchange within the first five minutes where they had close to four goals to convert but did not do so, Joseph pounced on a loose ball and hammered it home in the 7th minute.
Realising that the custodian was not the regular one, Lodge strikers upped the ante and attacked their opponents’ goal at will, while their defence, which was led by skipper Keith Fletcher along with Jamal Scott, Gibbs Jamal and Kareem Johnson kept a tight lid on Tucville’s strike line.
Following the ejection of Tucville’s Akeem ‘Buxton’ Hatton from Tucville’s lineup for misconduct to an official, Harris and his teammates capitalised on the advantage of having an extra player, which resulted in Harris scoring his brace in the 16th and 19th minutes.
Stefan Enoe pulled one back for Tucville from the penalty spot, following a handled-ball infringement, after Ryan Blackman fed Jamal Delph a wonderful ball at the top of Lodge’s six-yard box, only to see Delph’s shot go wide.
With their regular custodian Dennis Johnson taking his place between the uprights for Tucville, one would have thought that the team would have regained their composure and take the attack to their opponents, but instead their approach was lackadaisical, more so in the second half which they began 3-1.
Harris was given his marching orders by referee Harry Griffith, following a second yellow card in the 47th minute and with the playing field being a level one, Lodge did not ease up on their attack, resulting in their fourth goal being scored by Thom, seven minutes after Harris was expelled.
Nevertheless, Tucville made several spirited runs to their opponents’ goal area, forcing their custodian Jamal Daly to pull off several saves, while at times Blackman was guilty of excessive dribbling, when presented with a clear opportunity to shoot the ball.
They saved some face when Michael Campbell beat Daly with a weak shot that was taken from the top of the box in the 65th minute, a goal that revived their spirits, but came a little too late, as Lodge played tight defence to secure their lead and the win.
At the Georgetown Football Club ground, Donovan Mickle got a double in the 26th and 70th minutes, which piloted St Stanislaus College to a 2-1 victory over Guyana Industrial Training Centre (GITC) whose lone goal came off the boot of Tyshawn Forris in the 56th minute.
However, St Stanislaus would do well not to celebrate too much, since GITC have lodged a protest, something that has been the norm in this year’s tournament, saying their opponents played an overage player.
At the Tucville ground, Ann’s Grove went under to Bygeval Secondary 2-1 in the first fixture while in the second game, Annandale Secondary defeated Bladen Hall Secondary 3-1 on penalty kicks, Institute of Professional Education (IPE) lost to Friendship Secondary 4-3 at the Grove Community Centre ground.
At the Wales Community Centre ground, an ecstatic Latoya Henry, the principal of Leonora Secondary, turned up at the venue to witness her team trounce Uitvlugt Secondary 4-1, to be crowned the West Demerara champions.
Andrew Fowler (22nd), Kevin Garraway (49th), Gavin Graham (60th) and Aubrey Greene (75th) were the goalscorers for the victorious Leonora Secondary, while Rawle Garnette scored his team’s consolation goal in the 80th minute.
Yesterday’s final game saw Bush Lot Secondary defeat Mahaicony Secondary 2-1, while the lone fixture today would see Berbice Educational Institute (BEI) oppose Tutorial/Tagore at the All Saints ground from 15:30hrs, in the Regional finals.