Wolmers' Boys cruise past St George's College

Five-time Schools' Challenge Quiz champions, Wolmer's Trust High School For Boys, advanced to the third round of the competition yesterday after defeating St George's College 31 -16.

Wolmer's Boys is ranked seventh in the competition, while St George's College is ranked 26th based on their performance last year.

Wolmer's Boys, captained by Xavier Harris, with team members Daniel Campbell, Ajay Yankana, and Hakeem Pinnock, went into the 12th match of round two, confident of victory.

"We don't know how much they [St George's College] have been training, but we know how much we have been training, and we think that will get us through to the third round," Harris predicted in a pre-match interview with THE STAR.

CONFIDENCE ELEVATED

Coaches Daryl Rowe and AndrÈ Stewart also had elevated confidence in the Heroes Circle, Kingston-based team in their pre-match interview.

"They're coming to do business and they're very ready, Rowe proclaimed.

The odds seemed stacked against the 26th seed, St George's College, which has only won the competition once, some 31 years ago. In addition, all the team members were third formers, with no previous Schools' Challenge Quiz experience, except the captain Sashauna Carr, a sixth former who competed for another school before.

Nonetheless, captain Carr, and team members Roshane Gilpin, Nathaniel Foster, and Stephan Migoes, were quite confident going in.

"I think if we execute as we were taught in training then we'll be good," Carr said.

The first round saw Wolmer's Boys scoring five points, while St George's Colleges dragged behind with three points. This set the pace for the remainder of the game.

In the speed section, Wolmer's Boys shot ahead with 21 points, while St George's lagged behind with 10 points.

Towards the end of the buzzer section, there was no hope in sight for St George's after Wolmer's Boys widened the score with a 15-point lead.

In the post match assessment, captain Carr of George's said nerves seemed to have gotten the better of them during the match.

"I guess it's the fact that you're on national TV and everybody is watching. There are high expectations at home and at school to maintain the performance that got us thus far," she surmised.

For Wolmer's Boys, going into the next round coach Stewart said the team needs to work on their buzzer section skills and remaining calm during the heat of the moment.

Meanwhile, their sister school, Wolmer's Girls will contest Ardenne High school in a match to be broadcast on Television Jamaica tomorrow.