OMARI James found the back of the net seven times for Charlestown Secondary School, guiding them to an 11-0 drubbing over a hapless Bishops’ High School (BHS), as the curtain came down on the preliminary round action in this year’s Scotiabank/Pepsi Schools Football Academy at the Ministry of Education ground yesterday.

After seeing Tutorial defeat School of the Nations 3-1 and Lodge maintain their unbeaten record with a comfortable 7-1 victory over North Georgetown for whom Shemar Smith scored a hat-trick, Charlestown took the field to face a seven-man Bishops’ lineup in the final game of the day.
James opened the scoring for his team in the 3rd minute, following a solo run from his own half to Bishops’ goal mouth, before calmly placing the ball in the back of the net and from that moment on, Charlestown, who will take on Tutorial in the second semifinal today, found it difficult to not score goals.
Anthony Bartholomew had his solitary strike, one minute after James’ opening goal, which was followed by Jamar Mingo’s 8th minute strike.
Within the space of six minutes following Mingo’s goal, James completed his hat-trick, scoring the next two goals in the 10th and 14th minutes of play, as Charlestown took a comfortable 5-0 lead at lemon time.
On the resumption of play for the second half, Charlestown scored their next five goals at two-minute intervals, with James scoring first in the 33rd minute, followed by goals from Seon Thegg (35th), before James added two more in the 37th and 41th, separated by Marvin Carter’s 39th minute goal.
With Bishops’ looking on haplessly, James sealed their humiliation with his 48th minute goal to send Bishops’ home with a drubbing, while at the same time boosting Charlestown’s confidence ahead of their semifinal clash today.
Earlier in the day, Mikhail Forde struck a brace in the 26th and 56th minutes of play and was supported by Mario Padmore’s 69th minute strike, as Tutorial came from behind to defeat School of the Nations 3-1, after Lyndon Dorway scored the opening goal in the 25th minute of play.
Prior to yesterday’s final preliminary round match, Lodge were already assured of a place in the semifinal, having played unbeaten in Group ‘A’ and yesterday they further asserted themselves with a commanding display of football.
Their skipper Kevin ‘Messi’ Boters led from the front, scoring the first of his two goals in the 2nd minute of play, with Ryan ‘Boom Boom’ Hackett also scoring his first of two six minutes later.
Hackett completed his double in the 17th minute, following which Smith made it 4-0 for Lodge, when he scored the first of his three goals in the 18th minute as his team took the lemon time whistle with a 4-0 lead.
After the break, Boters completed his double with a 45th minute strike and two minutes later, Smith got his brace before completing the hat-trick in the 50th minute.
Selfish play from Lonsdale George, who pulled one back for North Georgetown in the 62nd minute, prevented his team from capitalising on the numerous goal-scoring opportunities that were presented to them, which would have reduced the margin of defeat.
In the lone female matchup, Tutorial rode on the confidence of their male side to defeat Christ Church 4-0, with Shaquanna Hope scoring a brace in the 5th and 17th minutes of play, backed by goals from Shekele Fraser (19th) and Nateifa Marville’s solitary strike in the 45th minute.
Meanwhile in the Ancient County of Berbice, Berbice High School (BHS) male and female were crowned champions of that zone, following their respective victories over Berbice Educational Institute (BEI) and New Amsterdam Multilateral Secondary (NAMS) yesterday.
In the female matchup, BHS on the back of Shontell Leacock’s 35th minute goal that was scored from the penalty spot, needled BEI while Shamar Arindale scored a double in the 60th and 70th minutes after Deryck Taylor had opened the scoring in the 26th minute to hand BHS a 3-0 victory over NAMS in the male category.
The Georgetown zone semifinals will be contested at the Ministry of Education ground today, with Lodge taking on Christ Church in the first encounter at 11:30hrs, followed by the Tutorial versus Charlestown at 13:00hrs, with the winners meeting in the final next Sunday.