DESPITE a hat-trick of goals in the second half from Romel Legall, St George’s Secondary walked away with a hard-fought 4-3 victory over East Ruimveldt Secondary, when the two met yesterday in a Georgetown zone semifinal clash of this year’s Digicel Schools Football Championships at the Ministry of Education ground.

An Azuma Small brace scored in the 23rd and 70th minutes of play and goals from Robby Heclaggon (14th) and Okeri Codrington’s 43rd were all St George’s needed to claim the win, despite Legall’s heroic efforts which saw him hit the back of the net in the 42nd, 46th and 52nd minutes of play respectively.
East Ruimveldt had the opportunity to score the first goal of the contest, when they were awarded an indirect free kick after St George’s custodian Royston Dublin was whistled for a handled ball in the box, but Adafa Campbell sent the ensuing shot high over the four-man wall and crossbar.
At the other end of the field, St George’s, who commenced this tournament as the Petra/Milo Schools Football Under-20 champions, should have gone ahead but both Azuma and Ozeal Small sent their shots wide, with East Ruimveldt custodian Troy Carrington a beaten man on the first post.
It took the solo efforts of Heclaggon, who latched onto a loose ball following a weak goal kick from Carrington, to give St George’s the opening goal in the 14th minute.
Nine minutes later and Azuma Small made it a two-goal possession for St George’s after he flew the offside trap, went around Carrington and guided the ball into the back of the net, to spark off celebrations among his teammates.
All the time, Legall’s efforts to find the opening goal for his team were thwarted by the stout defensive work from Quincy Lawrence, who dispossessed him of the ball on several occasions, with the greatest of ease, as Legall failed to find any support from his teammates in the striker’s position.
Whether it was the lack of water or coach Gilbert Sampson’s words of inspiration at halftime, nobody knows but a regrouped East Ruimveldt lineup took the field in an aggressive mode, running down every loose ball.
It was clear to all who witnessed the encounter that East Ruimveldt were not going to give up easily and when Legall scored the first of his hat-trick in the 42nd minute, followed by his second goal four minutes later, St George’s work was cut out for them, even though Codrington scored after Legall got his first goal, to give St. George’s a two-goal cushion.
Not to be outdone, a rejuvenated Legall rose above the defence and headed home the equaliser from a well-directed corner kick from one of his teammates in the 52nd minute – a goal that not only gave him his hat-trick, but also brought back some fight for his team.
Both teams enjoyed a battle for supremacy especially in the midfield area, wherein St George’s held the upper hand with great ball control, but found it hard to snare the go-ahead goal, as Carrington proved to be a worthy customer between the uprights for East Ruimveldt.
At the other end of the field, St George’s, who had switched Dublin for Orin Moore at the start of the second half, an act they committed against Kingston High in their previous encounter saw Moore pull off a brilliant save on the first post to deny Legall, who had eluded Lawrence.
When the diminutive Codrington was brought down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot in the 70th minute, Azuma Small made amends for his earlier mistakes by calmly placing the ball past Carrington to hand St George’s the go-ahead goal and what turned out to be winning one as well.
At the Skeldon Community Centre ground in Berbice, Berbice High School who got double strikes from National Under17 and U-19 cricketer Shimron Hetmyer and Shemar Arrindale defeated Tagore Memorial 7-0 in their encounter.
Hetmyer found the back of the net in the 38th and 57th minutes, Arrindale did likewise in the 70th and 75th and along with goals from Stephan Hinds (54th), Deryck Taylor (80th) and national youth player Mark Wrong in the 82nd minutes respectively, handed their team the one-sided victory.
At the Golden Grove ground on the East Coast of Demerara, Bladen Hall Multilateral defeated Annandale Secondary 3-2 on penalty kicks following a 1-1 stalemate at the end of regulation time, with Kevin Trotman scoring for the victors in the 37th minute, before Dimitri Clarke responded for Annandale with his 45th minute strike.
At the Grove ground on the East Bank of Demerara, Trevon Jones’ 33rd minute goal which was scored from the penalty spot, was all Covent Garden needed to defeat Institute of Professional Education and advance to the next round.