National Secondary Schools Football Tournament

Unbeaten St Patrick's College head into quarter final play today on the way to defending the Lotto New Zealand Secondary Schools Trident Boys Football Tournament title at Wembley Park in Whanganui.

The Kilbirnie, Wellington-based 1st X1 were unlucky not to have made the actual national premier division tournament being played in Tauranga this week after beating Marlborough this season. However, the Marlborough side made the premier tournament on goal difference relegating St Pat's to the the next tier down.

Twenty-four secondary school teams began competing in the Trident tournament on Monday and St Pat's, who won this title last year, have gone through unbeaten to top Pool C.

They conceded only one goal in pool play late on Tuesday against Lytton High (Gisborne) who finished on the same points as Ormiston Senior College from Auckland. Ormiston claimed the second spot in Pool C on goal difference over Lytton.

The top two teams from each pool go through to form three divisions where each will have semi-finals and finals. The finals are scheduled for kick-off at Wembley Park tomorrow.

Western Heights High (Rotorua) and Lynfield College (Auckland) topped Pool D, while Hamilton Boys High 2nd X1 and Wairarapa College went through top of Pool A, that included Wanganui Collegiate School. Unfortunately, the only team from the River City play off in the bottom division.

In Pool B Pukekohe and Trident College (Whakatane) finished top.