ON an eventful day blessed with glorious sunshine for football, fans who thronged the Ministry of Education, Carifesta Avenue-based ground last Sunday witnessed Isaiah Reddy hit a helmet-trick for Chase Academy, even as former champions St George’s Secondary were issued marching orders.It all occurred in the final round-of-16 fixtures in this year’s Petra Organisation/Milo-sponsored Under-20 Inter-secondary School Football Championships, underlining the status of play displayed so far in this year’s tournament.

In the first match of the day, Morgan Learning Centre disposed of Queen’s College 5-1, with a double from Ronaldo Dover scored in the 49th and 51st minutes, backed by solitary strikes from Keyron Solomon who opened the scoring in the 7th minute, Wayne Murray (57th) and Randy Layne (62nd), with Lloyd Anderson pulling one back for QC in the 41st minute.
Queenstown Secondary defeated East Ruimveldt Secondary 3-0, thanks to goals from Kelsey Benjamin (34th), Wallison DeSantos (43rd) and Cordell Charles (78th). St George’s who lost out in last year’s final to Lodge Secondary took on St Joseph in the day’s third fixture.
Orin Moore, known more for his goal-keeping abilities, scored first for St George’s when he found the back of the net in the 44th minute, a lead they held until the break and a further 28 minutes in the second half, before Dwight Ferguson got the equaliser for St Joseph in the 72nd minute.
It was a goal that brought life to St Joseph, as two minutes later, Lemar Williams added his name to the score sheet for the eventual victors, who came away with a shocking 2-1 victory, to advance to the quarterfinals.
In the final game of the day, Chase Academy rode on the back of Reddy’s helmet-trick to blank out Richard Ishmael 7-0, with Reddy scoring his four goals in the (29th, 30th, 51st & 58th), backed by a Marlon Nedd brace scored in the 35th and 49th minutes, with Kareem Knights scoring the other goal in the 12th minute.
Meanwhile, the fixtures for the quarterfinals will see Queenstown face Chase Academy, St Joseph High clash with Morgan Learning Centre, Dolphin go head-to-head with North Ruimveldt Multilateral and Lodge put their title on the line against St Mary’s High. (Calvin Roberts)