Fatima College and Queen's Royal College (QRC) booked their places in the boys' open final of the 2024 Republic Bank Secondary Schools' Water Polo League (SSWPL) in contrasting fashion at the National Aquatic Centre in Couva on Sunday.
After holding a slender 6-5 lead over St Mary's College at the halfway stage of their semifinal contest, Fatima turned up the heat in the second half when they scolded the "Saints" to swim away with an impressive 17-9 win - outscoring their opponents by an 11-4 margin in the second half.
Jeremiah Henriques-Brown was the man with the hot hand for Fatima, and he copped the Player-of-the-Match award after scoring eight of his team's 17 goals - scoring four in either half of the match.
Henriques-Brown was also in fine form for the boys from Mucurapo Road on Saturday when he scored six of his team's goals in a thumping 19-4 victory over the Combined Team.
Unlike Fatima, QRC's route to the final was smooth and comfortable on Sunday as they won by default against the Combined Team who were crippled by player unavailability and disciplinary issues.
The Royalians, who will meet St Mary's in the boys' Form one final this coming weekend, will hope their players are ready for the threat posed by the high-scoring Fatima team in the boys' open finale.
In the girls' open category, Bishop Anstey PoS and Holy Name Convent will meet each other in the final. On Sunday, players from both teams gave the onlookers a treat and a fine preview to the final when Holy Name emerged with a 13-12 golden-goal victory in a gripping encounter.
Holy Name trailed Bishop Anstey by an 8-5 margin at the half, but they rallied valiantly in the second half to tie the game at 12 apiece at the end of regulation. Player-of-the-Match Rebecca Lezama then scored the game-clinching goal in extra time as she netted her fourth in the encounter.
Mia Thomas also scored four goals for Holy Name, while Sanaa Fraser netted four times to lead the Bishop Anstey charge.
On Saturday, both Thomas and Diana Peralta scored five goals apiece to lead Holy Name to a 17-12 victory over St Joseph's Convent PoS.
In the final, Holy Name will try to replicate the heroics of their golden-goal thriller against Bishop Anstey.
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