It was in the year 2000 that Anthony Patrick was last in charge of a Walker Cup-winning team, making it 18 years until he would again taste glory.
Prime Minister of Jamaica, the Most Honourable Andrew Holness, was on hand at the National Stadium in Kingston on Friday to witness his Alma Mater, St Catherine High School lift the Walker Cup title with a 3-2 win over Excelsior High School, the first in the history of the institution.
While winning the Walker Cup was a historic feat for St Catherine, they were really the favourites against an Excelsior team still growing. Despite the favourite tag, St Catherine had to come from behind to claim their first ever title, after Jevaughn Smith opened the scoring for Excelsior in the 29th minute of play.
It didn’t take long for St Catherine to respond though, Kamau Davis scoring in the 36th minute of play before Assanie Brown put one hand on the title for his side with 39th and 45th-minute efforts. Excelsior would make a game of it in the last few minutes after a 79th minute penalty from Smith almost took away all the good work of the Anthony Patrick-coached outfit.
Prime Minister Holness must have had his heart in his mouth when Excelsior went ahead. A corner whipped in from the left side courtesy of a right footer was barely kept out by the St Catherine goalkeeper and fell to Smith, who wasted no time in tapping home ahead of the challenging defender.
But St Catherine did not panic and when Rajneal Brown dismissed his marker down the right side, Excelsior were in big trouble. They were in bigger trouble when Brown’s cutback came to the feat of Davis.
But Davis still had work to do. The dimunitive striker did that work oh so well, turing on a dime and toe-poking the ball past the Excelsior goalkeeper’s near post to even the scores.
Then came the Assanie Brown show, with the forward, who ended MVP of the tournament, tapping home a defelcted free kick in the 39th minute of play before he ran onto a beautiful through ball and opened his body to attempt to curl the ball around the goalkeeper. While Brown was guilty of hitting his delivery too straight on, he did receive a bit of luck as his shot, though parried by the goalkeeper still ended up in the back of the net.
At 3-1 the game could have been over, but in the 79th minute, a St Catherine defender lost a ball he didn’t need to and then brought his attacker down to make up for the error.
Smith made no mistake from the spot to make the result 3-2 and force St Catherine to manage their remaining time to stay in front and give Patrick his second Walker Cup title, the first since he led Bridgeport to that piece of silverware 18 years earlier.
St George’s College will play against Cornwall College in the quarterfinals of the ISSA Champions Cup after completing the remainder of their rain-affected game against BB Coke High School on Monday.
St George’s, one of the teams looking to become the first to claim a second lien on the title, had come from behind to lead 3-2 against BB Coke on Saturday when persistent rain ended play 10 minutes early.
The Light Blues of North Street were not in such an accommodating mood when the teams met for the final 10 minutes on Monday, banging in a further three goals to end the encounter 6-2 winners.
The Champions Cup quarterfinal draw, held at the offices of SportsMax Ltd on Monday, pulled up some other mouthwatering clashes set for Saturday.
Frome Technical will play against Kingston College, while Clarendon College have to deal with St Andrew Technical High School and in an all-urban affair, Excelsior High School do battle with Jamaica College.
The game between Frome and KC will mark the opening encounter of a double header at the Catherine Hall Sports Complex in Montego Bay, beginning at 4pm, while the second game, at 6:30, will be Cornwall and St George’s.
The other two games also form part of a double header with Clarendon College and STATHS facing off at 4pm over by Stadium East, while Excelsior and JC take centrestage at 6:30.
Excelsior High scored a 4-3 sudden-death penalty kick victory over Dinthill Technical, while Clarendon College beat Wolmer's Boys 2-0 on the opening day of the 2019 ISSA all-island Champions Cup knockout competition at the National Stadium in Kingston on Friday.
In the curtain-raiser, the Round of 16 match between Excelsior High and Dinthill Technical headed to penalties after finishing as a scoreless draw in regular time.
Both teams created good chances to win the game in regular time especially Excelsior High, which were denied twice by goalkeeper Demero Hill on the stroke of halftime.
After doing well to beat a Dinthill defender in the box, Jhevan Smith had his powerful shot pushed onto the bar by Hill and bounced to the feet of Jaheim Flemmings and the follow-up shot was tipped over the bar. Seconds before those two chances created by Excelsior, Dinthill had a glorious chance to take the lead, but Carlington Facey just missed the target from the edge of the six-yard box after a cross was put inside.
In a tense shootout, Alex Alexander scored the all-important penalty to put Excelsior into the quarterfinal of the competition, two days after they suffered a big 4-0 defeat against St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) in the quarterfinals round of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup.
Zachary Palmer had the chance to win the game for Dinthill Technical with the fifth and final penalty kick but booted the ball wide to send the game into sudden death at 3-3.
Four penalty kicks were missed during that period. Karim Bryan also missed for Dinthill Technical, which had scored their first two kicks to secure the early advantage.
For Excelsior, Rojaughn Joseph booted the first penalty over the bar and Hill saved the third penalty taken by Flemmings.
In sudden death, Ty Wedderburn missed for Dinthill Technical to hand the advantage to Excelsior for the first time and Alexander made no mistake.
Kitwana Smart, Shavon Thompson, and Rushan Parkinson scored from the penalty spot for Dinthill Technical, while Aseany Richards, Tariq Duffus, and Smith also scored for Excelsior.
In the second encounter, Clarendon College got their two goals during the first nine minutes of the game to eliminate Wolmer’s Boys who failed to create any good scoring opportunities.
Sheldon Smart (3rd minute) and Omar Reid (9th minute) secured the goals, which put Clarendon College into the quarterfinals.
The Champions Cup comprises the eight teams that finished as winners and runner-ups in their respective rural area Wata daCosta Cup quarter-final groups along with the eight quarterfinalists from the urban area Digicel Manning Cup competition.
The remaining Round of 16 matches are scheduled for Saturday.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 (CATHERINE HALL COMPLEX)
St Andrew Technical vs Manning’s School at 4:00 pm
Charlie Smith High vs Cornwall College at 6:30 pm
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 (ST ELIZABETH TECHNICAL)
Camperdown High vs Frome Technical at 2:00 pm
St. George’s College vs B. B. Coke High at 4:00 pm
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 (STADIUM EAST)
McGrath High vs Jamaica College at 4:00 pm
Garvey Maceo High vs Kingston College at 6:30 pm
Cornwall College will begin the defence of the ISSA rebranded all-island Champions Cup against Charlie Smith High in the round of 16.
This was revealed during the draw on Wednesday night at the Stadium East facility.
The 2019 season is scheduled to kick off on Friday with a doubleheader at the Stadium East field in Kingston.
Dinthill Technical and Excelsior High will contest the opening match of the Stadium East's doubleheader at 4:00 pm. The second match of the doubleheader features Clarendon College against the 2016 winners Wolmer's Boys at 6:00 pm.
Cornwall College, which defeated Jamaica College (JC) last year to become the first rural area school to win the competition, will be in action on Saturday's second day, which features matches at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, Stadium East, and St Elizabeth Technical High School Sports Complex.
Cornwall College will play Charlie Smith at the Montego Sports Complex at 6:30 pm.
JC, which won the inaugural title in 2014 when the competition was called Super Cup before it was rebranded in 2018 to Champions Cup, have been drawn to start again McGrath High.
In other games over the weekend, St George’s College, the 2015 champions, have been drawn to start against B B Coke; Kingston College, the 2017 champions and Garvey Maceo will face off; Camperdown High will face Frome Technical and St Andrew Technical High School will meet Manning's School.
The Champions Cup comprises the eight teams that finished as winners and runner-ups in their respective rural area Wata daCosta Cup quarter-final groups along with the eight quarterfinalists from the urban area Digicel Manning Cup competition.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 1 (STADIUM EAST)
Dinthill Technical vs Excelsior High at 4:00 pm
Clarendon College vs Wolmer’s Boys at 6:30 pm
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 (CATHERINE HALL COMPLEX)
St Andrew Technical vs Manning’s School at 4:00 pm
Charlie Smith High vs Cornwall College at 6:30 pm
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 (ST ELIZABETH TECHNICAL)
Camperdown High vs Frome Technical at 2:00 pm
St. George’s College vs B. B. Coke High at 4:00 pm
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 2 (STADIUM EAST)
McGrath High vs Jamaica College at 4:00 pm
Garvey Maceo High vs Kingston College at 6:30 pm
Last season’s beaten finalists St George’s College and Excelsior High secured the advantages following their second-round first-leg fixtures of the 2019 ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup football competition at the Stadium East field on Thursday.
St George’s College, the number two ranked team, eked out a hard-fought 2-1 away victory over Mona High, the number 15 ranked side, in the first match of the doubleheader; while 10th ranked Excelsior High carved out a comfortable 3-0 home victory against seventh-ranked Jonathan Grant High in the second match.
Two other matches were scheduled for the day at Prison Oval in Spanish Town but inclement weather ruined the day.
The first match of the doubleheader between St Jago High and Charlie Smith High was called off with just 12 minutes played due to lightning strikes, while the second match between Jamaica College and Hydel High was called off without the players taking the field.
Over at the Stadium East field, 22-time champions St George’s College had to dig deep to break down a Mona High side that only qualified for the second round as one of two best third-place teams.
And the North Street giants had to come from behind for the victory after Dellneil Pinnock scored his second goal of the season to hand Mona High, the designated home team, a 19th-minute lead.
Jamone Shepherd got the equaliser for St George’s College in the 35th minute but that strike was pure luck as a shot rifled straight to goalkeeper Jabez Cleghorn took a bad bounce inches away from the custodian and lodged into the back of the net. It was only the second goal of the season for Shepherd.
Omni-present Nathaniel Campbell, the St George's College captain, found the winner in the 76th minute through a looping header that beat Cleghorn.
In the second game, Aseany Richard (71st minute), Jhevon Smith (74th minute) and Jahiem Flemmings, with his eighth goal of the season in time added on, handed six-time champions Excelsior High a big cushion over Jonathan Grant High heading into the return fixture.
It was the second day of second-round matches as on Wednesday top-seed and defending champions Kingston College (KC) and Wolmer's Boys secured first-leg victories.
KC defeated Vauxhall High 3-1 at the Stadium East field, while Wolmer's Boys edged St Catherine High 1-0 at Prison Oval in Spanish Town.
In other matches on that day, third-seed St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS), conceded their first goals of the season in a 2-2 draw with 14th-seed Eltham High at Prison Oval, while 13th-seed Holy Trinity High and fourth-seed Camperdown High battled to a 0-0 draw in their first leg tie at Stadium East.
The second round of the competition is comprised of 16 teams for eight match-ups. Teams will play home and away knockout games. The eight winners will advance to the Manning Cup quarter-finals and the eight losers to the Walker Cup knockout first round.
THURSDAY'S RESULTS
Mona 1 St George's College 2
Excelsior 3 Jonathan Grant 0
SATURDAY'S GAMES (RETURN LEGS)
Camperdown High vs Holy Trinity High at Jamaica College - 1:00 pm
STATHS vs Eltham High at Jamaica College - 3:00 pm
Jamaica College vs Hydel High at Stadium East - 2:00 pm
Charlie Smith High vs St Jago High at Stadium East - 4:00 pm
Wolmer’s Boys vs St Catherine High at Winchester Park - 1:00 pm
Kingston College vs Vauxhall High at Winchester Park - 3:00 pm
Jonathan Grant High vs Excelsior High at Prison Oval - 1:00 pm
St George’s College vs Mona High at Prison Oval - 3:00 pm
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