WHILE all his other teammates and even some from the opposition failed to find the back of the net, Toquan Clarke made full use of the opportunity that was presented to him in the 62nd minute to score Dolphin Secondary School’s lone goal which guided them to a 1-0 victory over Queen’s College (QC) yesterday.

The two were meeting in a Georgetown Zone semifinal of this year’s Digicel Schools Football Championships at the Ministry of Education ground, after Dolphin, who were beaten 6-3 by Guyana Industrial Training Centre (GITC) last week, filed a protest and won, which caused GITC to be disqualified.
In other matches, Santa Rosa Secondary defeated Hosororo Secondary 3-1 at the Mabaruma Community Centre ground, Charity edged Aurora 3-2 and Bladen Hall got past Ann’s Grove 3-1 to move to the next round.
At the Ministry of Education ground, Dolphin, got a second life following their successful protest, but found a worthy customer in QC, whose previous match ended with a victory via penalty kicks, while Dolphin were drubbing Marian’s Academy.
Michael DaCosta commandeered QC’s midfield area in similar fashion to Frank Beckenbauer of Germany, but where the former German great had valuable and worthy support at the top, DaCosta had none as only Saif Ibrahim showed any signs of wanting to win the contest for QC.
That aside, QC custodian Isaiah Hope proved his worth in more that gold between the uprights for his school, along with some strong defensive work from Stephen King, who denied Dolphin strikers on numerous occasions, especially when Hope was beaten.
At the other end of the field, Dolphin custodian Dante Forde continued to show signs of improvement between the uprights, while Milton Henry and Shawn Collins did everything in their power to deny DaCosta, Ibrahim and Stephan Hussain from penetrating Forde’s net.
Following a goalless first half in slippery conditions due to brief showers that fell minutes before kick-off time, Clarke, who has been finding the back of the net in all of Dolphin’s matches to date, did so when he beat Hope to the far post from just inside the box.
Try as they may, QC found it hard to get the equaliser, even though a tired-looking Dolphin defence was content on clearing the ball away until the final whistle sounded, guaranteeing themselves a place in tomorrow’s zone final against St George’s.
In Mabaruma, Angel Rodrigues scored a brace in the 58th and 88th minutes of play which, along with Brendon Phillips’ 50th minute goal, guided Santa Rosa to a 3-1 victory over Hosororo, for whom Paul Lucian found the back of the net in the 39th minute.
Santa Rosa will now play the winner of today’s encounter between Port Kaituma and Mabaruma at the same venue, tomorrow in that Region’s final.
In Essequibo, Charity Secondary and Aurora Secondary met at the New Opportunity Corps ground with the former coming out victorious by a 3-2 scoreline, thanks to a double from Faizal Williams (36th, 57th) and an own goal which was scored in the 85th minute.
Renaldo Bazil and Clevar Thomas were the goalscorers for Aurora Secondary, doing so in the 54th and 61st minutes of play respectively.
At the Golden Grove ground on the East Coast of Demerara, Bladen Hall, through goals from Michel Edwards (24th), Kevin Durant (38th) and Tyrone Harper (49th), came away with a 3-1 victory over Ann’s Grove, whose lone goal came off the boot of Jamal Blair in the 9th minute of play.