Top teams decided for BICO quarter-finals

Come Thursday, the fight for the final four in the 2017 BICO National Sports Councils Primary Schools Football Competition will begin. With the stage set after play over the past two days, the tournament could very well see a brand new champion emerging as only a few of the eight advancing sides have made it to the top over the past 36 years of the competition.

Yesterday at Orange Hill, Wilkie Cumberbatch were the first team to book their spot in the second round of play-off matches. The team with the most titles in the current crop, doing so in 2000 and 2001 and as recently as 2013, Wilkie were able to get past Blackman and Gollop Primary. They came away with a three-nil win after being held at bay for the entire first half with Reyo Clarke-Hunte, Josiah Smith and Darian Blackman taking credit for the goals.

Wesley Hall Juniors are also going forward after taking down Gordon Greenidge Primary in a two-nil affair. The prospect of another title should be enticing as they were last in winner’s row back in 1989. Edwin Barnett and Javion Whitehall gave Wesley Hall their goals as their opponents were unable to reply.

St. Alban’s Primary are heading into the quarter-finals after showing their mettle in a match against Zone 7 giants Milton Lynch. After a penalty kick in the second half from Revaldo Massiah, St. Alban’s pulled out all the stops to defend the goal for the one-nil win.

The final match at the venue saw A Dacosta Edwards letting go of a one-nil lead to allow St. Jude’s Primary to roll to a four-one win. Kydain Worrell put the East Coast school ahead in the first half, but Donte Gill of St. Jude’s had something to say about it and would go on to beat the keeper all four times.

On Monday at Greens, St. Giles Primary hammered four-time winners St. Gabriel’s to book their spot in the quarters with a four-one result. Sharon Primary eased out of their first play-off round to get the better of All Saint’s Primary at the end of their two-one encounter.

Grantley Prescod Primary are seeking glory again, being the most recent winners with their 2014 title. They dispatched Deacons Primary, two goals to none when the two crossed swords in St. George. St. George Primary was the last team on Monday to secure a berth after beating St. Martin’s Mangrove one-nil.