SSFL 23: Hold up, Webb! Malick’s Oba Samuel gets last shot at scoring title

The race for the 2023 Secondary Schools Football League (SSFL) Premier Division scoring title may not be over yet, with Malick Secondary and Bishop’s High School both ready to do battle in Tobago.

And with their rescheduled fixture comes an opportunity for Malick forward Oba Samuel, who has 14 league goals this season—two shy of St Benedict’s College attacker Malachi Webb.

If Samuel manages his third hattrick of the season against Bishop’s, he would snatch the honour of 2023 Premier Division top scorer in something akin to extra time.

At present, there are two outstanding fixtures left this season: Bishop’s High at home to Malick and Pleasantville Secondary; but there is precedent.

Last year, with Pleasantville not in life for the title or facing relegation, the South Zone never travelled to Tobago to face Speyside—much to the annoyance of the latter team, which effectively lost the right to stage a home match.

So this season, with the title and relegated schools already confirmed, there was an expectation that Bishop’s would also miss out on two home games with the respective Trinidad schools unwilling to fork out the cash for an arguably meaningless affair.

Only this time, Malick have an incentive to spend roughly $10,000 on airfare plus meals and ground transport—with their star forward just a couple goals away from a personal landmark.

“Bishop’s and Malick both want to play the game,” SSFL president Merere Gonzales told Wired868. “Malick is very much interested [and] neither school agreed to forfeit the match. The only reason the game didn’t play and it was postponed, not cancelled, is because the date the game was to be played on was during the carnival period in Tobago.

“But both schools are on standby for the game to be played.”

Malick coach Anthony Bartholomew did not respond when asked about the importance of their prospective trip to Bishop’s. However, Gonzales confirmed that Samuel figures prominently in the equation.

“I would not say it is only that but that is one of the main factors,” said Gonzales, “and they are within their rights to clamour for it to be played. If the young man is in contention for an honour, I don’t think the school would want to deny him that opportunity.”

Webb, a former Trinidad and Tobago National Under-17 forward, thought he pipped Samuel to the proverbial golden boot on the last day of the season when St Benedict’s hosted Malick at Mahaica Oval.

At kick off, Samuel had 14 goals and Webb had 13. However, Webb scored a hattrick in a 4-0 win for the “La Romain Lions” to move to his closing tally of 16.

On the St Benedict’s social media pages, Webb was presented with a trophy for his achievement by the school principal. That post, according to Gonzales, has since been deleted.

“I spoke to the principal of St Benedict’s College because I saw that the school presented a symbolic trophy to Webb,” said the SSFL president. “If they gave it to him as the top goal scorer for St Benedict’s then that is fine, but if they gave it to him as the top scorer in the league that is questionable.”

Gonzales said St Benedict’s promised to remove Webb’s congratulatory post—at least temporarily.

“[The problem] is just that the league didn’t deal with [the issue of the rescheduled matches] in a very timely and expeditious way,” said Gonzales, “so all the concerns of the public can be quelled.”

Gonzales claimed that Pleasantville were, again, disinterested in fulfilling their fixtures and considered the Tobago trip to face Speyside as an expensive inconvenience.

Malick think the trip is worth it though.

Samuel scored four times in a 6-0 romp away to Pleasantville on Saturday 14 October and then three times in a 5-1 spanking of East Mucurapo Secondary on Serpentine Road on Wednesday 25 October.

If he is as prolific in Tobago—on a date that is still to be confirmed—history will record him as the SSFL’s most lethal finisher of 2023.

Premier Division Top Goal Scorers

16—Malachi Webb (St Benedict’s College),

14—Oba Samuel (Malick Secondary),

12—Michael Chaves (Fatima College), Vaughn Clement (Presentation San F’do),

11—Lindell Sween (San Juan North), Kyle Phillip (St Mary’s College),

10—Aidan De Gannes (Fatima College), Tevin Pantor (Naparima College), Daniel Jones, Jaden Grant (St Benedict’s College),

9—Tyrell Stapleton (Arima North), Stephon James (QRC), Jaheem Danclar (San Juan North), Ryan Radellant (St Mary’s College), Khaleem Prince (Trinity East).

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