AFTER 90 minutes of intense action, wherein both teams squandered goal scoring opportunities, defending champions Lodge Secondary edged a stubborn St. Mary’s line-up 1-0 to advance to the semifinals of this year’s Petra Organisation/Nestle Milo Under-20 Schools Football Championships.The two sides were meeting in a marquee matchup in the third quarterfinal of the day last Saturday at the Ministry of Education, Carifesta Avenue based ground, after seeing Morgan Learning Centre and Dolphin Secondary booking their semifinal spots earlier in the day.

Playing as the underdogs, St. Mary’s pushed the defending champions to the limit throughout regulation time and were it not for excellent custodial work from Lodge’s goalkeeper and captain Hakeem Roach which made a difference between the two sides, the defending champions would have been singing a different song at the end of the contest.
Lodge signaled their intentions as early as the fifth minute of the game when Shemar Smith stood over a free kick from just inside St. Mary’s half and sent a long winding shot at his opponent’s goal, but their custodian Saul Benjamin was equal to the task.
It was one of several first-half actions that thrilled the fair-sized crowd on hand that included Petra Organisation director Marlon Cole and front office staff Angeline Dyer.
The second half was no different from the first, just that it failed to produce any goals, forcing referee Keith Roberts and his support staff to turn to extra time to arrive at a winner and it certainly paid dividends in favor of Lodge.
Known for his explosive foot works with his left foot, Ryan Hackett pounced on a well weighted pass from Jarell Grannum from just inside St. Mary’s half and made a spirited run to their goal area, with the defence pushing him wide.
However, with the ball on his favorite foot (left), Hackett, just as he did for Lodge in last year’s final to hand them the title over St. Georg’s Secondary, unleashed a powerful left foot screamer to the far corner, leaving Benjamin stranded on his first post in the first minute of extra time.
The celebrations that followed certainly signified the pressure and relieve Hackett’s goal brought to his teammates and supporters, while Roach came up trumps in the second half of extra time, when he was faced with a two-on-one situation and came out the victor.
In the first match of the day, St. Joseph’s High who had defeated former champions St. George’s in round 16 of the contest the previous week, were no match for Morgan’s Learning Centre who came away with a 5-1 victory, thanks to a double from Wayne Murray.
Ronaldo Dover found the back of the net in the 16th minute before Travis Biardis made it 2-0 with his 21st minute goal, one that was later nullified by Dwight Ferguson’s 24th minute strike for St. Joseph’s, who despite the superiority of their opponents, hung in to make the contest a competitive one.
Toquan Matthews made it 3-1 for Morgan’s, before Murray added his name to the scorer’s column with his first of two goals in the 68th minute to make it 4-1 and 10 minutes later handed the eventual victors a four goal cushion as he completed his double in the 78th minute.
There is a local proverb which says ‘Do not judge the book by the cover,’ but the display that came from Dolphin Secondary in their 2-0 win over North Ruimveldt Multilateral Secondary School, leaves one to wonder if they have what it takes to get past Lodge Secondary, when the two sides meet in the semi-finals.
Leon Richardson (24th) and Joshua Browne (70th) were the two men on target for Dolphin, who squandered several goal scoring chances and had to say thanks to their custodian Dante Forde, who helped them keep their side of the scoresheet clean.
The final quarter-final matchup brought together an over-confident Chase Academy lineup who faced a determined Queenstown Secondary School, with the former coming out victorious with a 4-2 margin, only because the latter did not have within their ranks, a goalkeeper in the mould of Roach or Forde.
Marlon Nedd opened the scoring for Chase in the 7th minute, when he outran two defenders and calmly placed the ball past the pint-size custodian who was in between the uprights for Queenstown; after Shemar Barrow muffed an easy goal scoring opportunity from a Job Caesar pass two minutes before.
Jeremy Garret made it 2-0 in favor of Chase in the 12th minute, with a well directed free kick before the hard working Kelsey Benjamin pulled one back for Queenstown when he beat Chase’s custodian with a long range shot from the top of the box in the 24th minute to make the scoreline 2-1 in favor of Chase.
Barrow made up for his first-half blunder, when he beat Queenstown’s custodian with a long range shot in the 44th minute, similar to the one scored by Paul Caligiuri of the United States of America in their 1990 World Cup qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago Soca Warriors.
Simeon Moore, who was given a stern lecture by Chase’s coach Vurlon Mills at lemon time, used those words as inspiration to head home a well placed corner in the 66th minute to give his side a 4-1 lead, before Benjamin made it 4-2, when he scored from a free kick in the 67th minute.
The semi-finals will be held at the same venue this Thursday, with Morgan’s Learning Centre and Chase Academy meeting in the first matchup from 14:00 hrs, followed by Lodge putting their title on the line, when they go up against Dolphin from 16:00 hrs.
The finals will be held on Saturday 4th April at the same venue, with the winning team carting off $500,000 that will go towards a project of their choice, while the runners-up will receive $300,000, third place-$200,000 and fourth place $100,000, all of which will go towards a project of their choice, within the respective schools.

(By Calvin Roberts)