FOUR teams, 44 players and two spots in the final set for Sunday! That’s the scenario for this afternoon’s semifinals in the second annual Digicel-sponsored nationwide Inter-Secondary School Football Championship, which culminates at the world renowned Georgetown Cricket Club ground on Sunday. Last year’s runner-up Wismar/Christianburg Secondary, who routed Charity Secondary School 11-1 in their quarterfinal encounter, will be heavily favoured to dispose of St. Ignatius in their semifinal matchup at the Den Amstel Community Centre ground.
At the Carifesta Sports Complex ground, Bygeval Secondary and Waramadong Secondary will go head-to-head in what is expected to be an exciting matchup, following their emphatic results from Wednesday’s quarterfinal fixtures.
Daniel English will start between the uprights for Wismar/Christianburg, the regional champions of Region 10, while their defensive lineup will be led by their skipper Travin Dryden, with support from Jamal Almond, Leon Hohenkirk and Benny Neblett.
Marmalique Davidson, Nigel Caesar and Mario Batson will lead their attack, while the midfield will be marshalled by Tevin David, Yannick Simon and Allan Halley.
No doubt, the school from the mining town of Linden will look to repeat their performance in last year’s tournament and book a place in the final, with the aim to make amends for their 5-3 loss to inaugural champions Government Technical Institute (GTI) who did not compete in this year’s tournament.
However, St Ignatius would want to prove to all and sundry, that they belong in the final, especially with their display shown over Georgetown champions Lodge Secondary School, in their quarterfinal matchup which they won 8-1.
They withstood a barrage of verbal abuse from Lodge’s band of supporters, to come out on top by playing team football, coupled with tactical display and keeping their composure while their opponents who were left bewildered at times, lost theirs.
Their skipper and inspirational midfielder Mark Joseph, along with Jude McDonald, Michael Smith, Brian Robeiro and Franklyn Parks did the bulk of the work at the top to see them through to this stage of the tournament.
Their defence, which was led by Earl Campbell who received valuable support from Robeiro, Brandon Parks and Romario Jose, stood firm in the soggy conditions they faced at the Tucville ground on Wednesday, while their custodian Rohan Nicholas proved to be a worthy customer on several occasions, even when faced with one on one situation.
Johnson Jack, Kelvin James and Samuel Charles lead Bygeval Secondary in their encounter against Waramadong Secondary, who will look to McCord Kramer, Tirilio George and Myles Albert to lead their challenge in today’s encounter, as they continue to represent Region 7 with pride.
Both teams recorded convincing quarterfinal wins, with Bygeval upstaging Leonora Secondary 8-0 at the Beterverwagting ground, while Waramadong did not show any mercy to Tutorial Academy of Berbice, as they inflicted a 9-0 whipping on the Ancient County team
The semifinal action gets under way at 16:00hrs this afternoon, with the winners meeting in Sunday’s final which will be played under the lights from 18:00hrs, following the third place encounter which kicks off at 16:00hrs.