Last season’s beaten finalists Kingston College will kick start their ISSA Champions Cup campaign against Dinthill Technical in the first game of a double-header at the National Stadium on Saturday.
With last year's champions Jamaica College failing to make the cut, the all-island knockout tournament title is up for grabs, and it is left to be seen if it will remain in the urban area, or if a rural area team will be crowned this year.
Both Kingston College and Dinthill, booked their passaged to the all-island knockout tournament after securing semi-final berths in the Digicel-sponsored Manning Cup and Wata-sponsored daCosta Cup respectively.
The two are set to meet at 3:00pm, before reigning daCosta Cup champions Clarendon College cross swords with St George’s College at 5:00pm.
Details of the first round was revealed during a draw at the national Stadium on Tuesday.
Aside from the two games in Kingston, two other games will take place at the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex in Santa Cruz.
There, Hydel High will face Garvey Maceo High in the first game of a double-header, while Mona High takes on Glenmuir High in the second match. Those games are scheduled for 2:00pm and 4:15pm respectively.
The winners will advance to the semi-finals, set for next week Wednesday at the National Stadium.
2021 champions Garvey Maceo and Dinthill Technical both secured their spots in the semi-finals of the ISSA/Wata DaCosta Cup on Tuesday.
Garvey Maceo booked their passage through to the last four with a 2-0 win over Cornwall College at Glenmuir.
The first few minutes of the contest saw both teams playing some untidy football. Garvey Maceo was first to register a shot on target through Jelani Williams in the sixth minute.
The 2021 champions continued to apply early pressure before it was finally rewarded through a brilliant individual goal from Williams in the 10th minute.
He picked up the ball from just outside the half-way line and dribbled past three players before slotting the ball home past the Cornwall College goalkeeper for his 11th goal of the season.
Cleo Clarke almost made it 2-0 for Garvey Maceo in the 30th minute but his close-range shot only found the side netting.
Cornwall’s best chance of the first half came in the 33rd minute when Lincoln Cox found himself free for a header from a corner that he put wide of the mark.
Three minutes into the second half, Garvey Maceo doubled their lead through Cleo Clark’s 20th goal of the season.
After an Everton Swaby shot was parried well by the Cornwall College goalkeeper, the ball ricocheted to Clark who finished well with his weaker right foot.
Swaby almost added a third for Garvey Maceo in the 62nd minute but pushed his shot wide of the goal.
Dane Buckley almost pulled one back in spectacular fashion for Cornwall College with a volley that went just over the bar in the 65th minute. He also came close in the 67th minute.
Garvey Maceo advanced second place with six points, the same as Dinthill Technical, and will take on Clarendon College in the semi-finals. Clarendon College secured top spot on group A with a 2-1 win over Glenmuir at Manchester High.
Dinthill will face Glenmuir in the other semi-final.
The day’s other game saw Manchester beat Christiana 2-0 at Brooks Park.
Reigning Ben Francis champions Glenmuir High had a positive start in the ISSA/WATA daCosta Cup quarterfinals, as they blanked Manchester High 2-0 in a lively Group A encounter at their May Pen base on Wednesday.
Glenmuir, who are contesting the quarterfinal round for the first time since 2017, got their goals four minutes apart through Ja-son Whyte (51st) and Orane Watson (55th), and are now poised for a semi-final berth, provided they see off defending champions Clarendon College and Christiana High in their next two fixtures.
Clarendon College, who are heavily favoured to retain their title, also started positively with a 4-0 beating of Christiana High to grab an early lead in the group. They enjoy a two-goal difference over Glenmuir, heading into Saturday’s second round of games.
At May Pen, Glenmuir came out more purposeful, as Kyle Gordon paraded his nippy footwork in breaking down Manchester defence, while DeAndre Johnson forced a save from Jevanni Bennett with a stinging right-footer from about 20 yards out, in the early exchanges.
In fact, Manchester’s first real show of quality in attack came in the 14th minute when they got in behind Glenmuir’s defence, but were unable to find the go-ahead goal.
Both teams continued to assert their attacking prowess in the probe to break the deadlock. Glenmuir again went close in the 36th when Gordon found Watson at the top of the 18-yard box, but the latter’s effort was kept out by Bennett diving away to his left.
Manchester responded shortly after and it took a tidy save from Antwone Gooden in goal for Glenmuir to deny Michael Reid on the stroke of the break to ensure the score remained goalless.
However, Glenmuir again came out spiritedly on the resumption and inevitable found the breakthrough six minutes in when Whyte’s well-struck freekick from about 30 yards out, beat Bennett all ends up. It was a goal befitting of his first for the season.
And before Manchester could contemplate a comeback, they suffered a second blow when Watson outpaced a defender and drove a right-footed effort past the hapless Bennett for his sixth of the season.
The tempo of the game fell from there and it wasn’t until the later stages of the contest that both teams again showed some life in attack, albeit, failing to capitalise on the opportunities.
Glenmuir’s Head coach Andrew Peart said the win is just what the doctor ordered.
“It is important because we wanted to start the group very well. At the half we weren’t so pleased with the intensity at which we played, we gave Manchester High a little bit too much room, especially in the middle of the field.
“But second half, we got a brilliant goal by Jason Whyte and then it was about pressing high up the field again that led to the second goal. So I am very pleased in terms of the reaction in the second half and in the end, the result,” Peart said in a post-game interview.
His counterpart Patrick Graham believe his team was lacking in parts.
“First, let me congratulate the Glenmuir team. I believe they showed a bit more fight than us, we surrendered some crucial areas on the pitch when they were in possession and it cost us the game.
“The positive is that after going two-nil down, we showed a little bit more fight and more composure and it shows that we can play whenever we decide to play. So, we just have to prepare for the next two games,” Graham noted.
Meanwhile, over in Group two, Garvey Maceo High and Dinthill Technical registered 4-0 and 2-0 victories over BB Coke and Cornwall College respectively. Much like it is in Group A, Garvey Maceo hold a two-goal difference over Dinthill Technical.
Wednesday’s results
Group A
Clarendon College 4, Christiana High 0
Glenmuir High 2, Manchester High 0
Group B
BB Coke 0, Garvey Maceo 4
Dinthill Technical 2, Cornwall College 0
Saturday’s fixtures
Group A
Manchester vs Clarendon College @ Manchester
Christiana vs Glenmuir @ Glenmuir
Group B
Cornwall College vs BB Coke @ Jarrett Park
Dinthill Technical vs Garvey Maceo @ Ewarton Sports Complex
Only three schools from last year’s ISSA/Wata DaCosta Cup quarterfinals are back at the same stage of this year’s competition after the Round of 16 came to an end on Saturday.
Defending champions Clarendon College, former winners Dinthill Tech and Manchester High are the only survivors, and they will be joined by Glenmuir High, Christiana High, BB Coke High, Cornwall College and Garvey Maceo High in the last eight.
Clarendon College’s perfect win record ended at 12 games after they were forced to come from behind to earn a 1-1 draw against Cornwall College at Glenmuir High.
Lincoln Cox, who failed to finish his team’s last two games, gave Cornwall College a first half lead but Kaheim Dixon’s late second half equalizer saw both teams share the points.
The point was enough for Clarendon College to win the group with seven points while Cornwall College got second place on goal-difference over STETHS who were held 0-0 by Mile Gully High in their game.
Both Cornwall College and STETHS finished on four points but Cornwall College had a plus one goal-difference to STETHS’ zero.
Glenmuir High edged Garvey Maceo High on goal-difference after both schools won on Saturday to finish with seven points each in Group 4.
Glenmuir High beat Frome Technical High 2-1 at Llandilo Sports Complex with goals from Kyle Gordon and Oneil Headley as Glenmuir High ended with a plus six goal-difference, two more than Garvey Maceo.
2021 champions Garvey Maceo comfortably defeated Port Antonio High 4-1 at Carder Park. Cleo Clarke scored a double in the 10th and 31st minutes with the other goals coming from Rakeesh Jones in the 46th minute and Everald Swaby in the 52nd minute.
Keroe George scored Port Antonio’s consolation goal in the 85th minute.
BB Coke High, who was the only school to win all three Round of 16 games, overwhelmed Tacky High 4-0 at Drax Hall as Jahmaul Wright scored a double with Semar Williams and Sanjay Allen also scoring.
Manchester High rebounded from their first loss of the season to beat Happy Grove High 2-0 in Mandeville and get second place in Group 2.
Davonie Daley and Nickoy Henry scored for Christiana High in their 2-0 win over McGrath High to finish second in Group 3 to Dinthill Technical who were 2-1 winners over William Knibb Memorial in their weather affected game at Dinthill Technical.
Group A of the quarterfinal round will feature Christiana, Clarendon College, Glenmuir and Manchester while Group B will feature B.B. Coke, Cornwall College, Dinthill Technical and Garvey Maceo.
Play begins on Wednesday with Clarendon College playing Christiana at Manchester, Glenmuir hosting Manchester, B.B. Coke facing Garvey Maceo at STETHS and Dinthill Technical facing Cornwall College at the Ewarton Sports Complex.
2003 champions Frome Technical went to Merlene Ottey and won 8-0 to remain unbeaten atop Zone B of the ISSA/Digicel DaCosta Cup on Wednesday.
Frome, who also beat Green Island 5-1 on Monday, lead the zone with 15 points from their five games and have scored 32 goals while conceding only one. 11-time champions Rusea’s also have 15 points but have played one more match than Frome. They secured a 3-0 home win against Hopewell.
Zone A leaders Irwin High got their third consecutive draw, 1-1 with Maldon at home to move to 15 points from their seven outings, five points more than Green Pond in second. 12-time champions Cornwall College got a vital 2-1 win over Green Pond at Green Pond on Tuesday to close the gap between the two to just one point. Wednesday’s other zone clash saw St. James High record a 3-2 victory over Anchovy at Jarrett Park.
William Knibb now has four wins from four games to lead Zone C after a 3-0 win over Spot Valley at Spot Valley. Wednesday’s other zone game saw Herbert Morrison secure a 1-0 home win over Muschett. Cedric Titus is second in the zone and also have four wins out of four after a 5-0 win over Muschett on Monday.
Lacovia beat Munro College 1-0 at home in Zone E. Lacovia now have nine points from eight games for fourth in the zone while Munro are still second with 11 points but are now ten adrift of leaders STETHS who won their seventh match out of seven, 2-0 over Maggotty at Maggotty on Tuesday. B.B Coke also beat Sydney Pagon 3-1 at home on Tuesday and are now a single point behind Munro in third.
Belair High took over the lead in Zone F thanks to a 1-0 home win over Manchester to move to 15 points from six games, two points ahead of their opponents in second. DeCarteret College are now just one point behind Manchester in third after a 2-0 win over Bellefield at Bellefield while Mt. St. Joseph beat May Day 3-0 at home in the other zone game.
Clarendon College beat Kellits 5-1 at home for their fifth win in as many games to stretch their lead in Zone H. Edwin Allen and Lennon High played out a 0-0 draw at Lennon and are currently second and third in the zone on eight and seven points, respectively.
Vere Technical hammered Winston Jones 10-0 to move to the top of Zone N with 10 points after four games. Defending champions Garvey Maceo also have 10 points thanks to a 4-1 away win against Kemps Hill. They also beat Foga Road 3-1 at home on Monday.
In Zone O, Happy Grove hammered Fair Prospect 6-0 at Hector’s River to move to lead with eight points from four games. Titchfield also have eight points from four thanks to a 1-1 draw with Port Antonio at Carder Park.
In Zone J, Tacky moved to 15 points from seven games after a 1-1 draw with St. Mary Tech at Richmond Farm, maintaining a five-point lead over St. Mary High who beat Horace Clarke 1-0 at Horace Clarke on Tuesday. Wednesday’s other zone game saw Wycliffe Martin lose 2-3 at home to Annotto Bay High.
Central High moved to the top of Zone M with a 5-0 win over Tacius Golding at the Port Esquivel Sports Club. They now have 12 points from five games, three more than Glenmuir who have also played two less games. Glenmuir beat Old Harbour 2-0 at home on Monday.
In more Tuesday results, Manning’s dropped their first points of the season with a 0-0 draw at Godfrey Stewart in Zone D. With 19 points from seven games, they now lead Petersfield, who drew 1-1 with Black River at Black River, by seven points. Godfrey Stewart sits third with nine points while Belmont Academy are now a point behind them in fourth after a 1-0 win over Grange Hill at the Llandilo Sports Complex.
Holmwood secured a 2-1 win over Alphansus Davis High at Brooks Park to maintain their lead in Zone G. They now have 13 points from five games, six points more than Christiana High who beat Alston 5-0 at Kirkvine. Christiana have played two games less than Holmwood.
York Castle took over the lead in Zone I thanks to a 2-0 win over Browns Town at the Mount Pleasant Academy. They now have 13 points in five games to lead Oracabessa, who played out a 1-1 draw with Ocho Rios at Drax Hall, by three points.
Dinthill Technical got their eighth win in as many games to maintain top spot in Zone K. They secured a 5-1 win over Enid Bennett at the Bybrook Sports Club to move to 24 points. McGrath High remain second on 18 points from eight games after a 1-0 win over Charlemont, who are third with 15 points. Ewarton beat Guys Hill 1-0 at the Ewarton Sports Complex in the other zone game on Tuesday.
For the first time since its inception, the final of the ISSA Champions Cup will be an all daCosta Cup affair.
Clarendon College will contest the final for the second straight edition as they dethroned defending champions Kingston College with a 2-0 win in their 1:00 pm encounter at Stadium East.
Clarendon College, who provided KC with their first loss in schoolboy football this season, took the lead through Keheim Dixon in the 86th minute and the win was all but secured after Christopher Hull finished off a brilliant passing move to double their lead in the 89th minute.
The Chapleton-based school avenged their 1-0 defeat to KC in the final of the Champions Cup in 2019.
Their opponents will be Dinthill Technical who secured a 5-4 penalty shootout over Jamaica College after playing out a 0-0 draw in the 3:15 pm game at Stadium East.
Both teams will be fighting for their first hold of title in the final, which will take place on Saturday, January 15 at 3:00 pm.
Clarendon College became the fourth and final team to advance to the semi-finals of the 2021 DaCosta Cup football competition on Tuesday after recording a 3-1 win over McGrath High at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) to finish with a perfect nine points from their three games in Zone 4.
Both DaCosta Cup semi-finals will be played at 3:00 pm on January 12 with Dinthill Technical taking on Mannings High School at the Montego Bay Sports Complex while Garvey Maceo will do battle with Clarendon College at STETHS.
Meanwhile, Manchester High beat Cornwall College 2-1 at Green Pond in Tuesday’s other Zone 4 encounter to finish second in the zone with six points and advance to the Ben Francis Cup Knockout.
Manchester High and Cornwall College join Edwin Allen, Christiana High, Munro College, Vere Technical, STETHS and Frome Technical in the Ben Francis Cup.
In a matter of weeks, St. Andrew Technical have gone from being out of the Manning Cup to being in the semi-finals.
After originally finishing fourth in Group B behind Camperdown, Tivoli and Excelsior, they advanced to the quarterfinal round as a second-placed team after Camperdown and Tivoli were disqualified from the competition for using ineligible players.
On Friday at Jamaica College, they played out a 1-1 draw with Mona High to advance from Group 1 along with defending champions Jamaica College to the last four of the competition.
JC finished with a perfect nine points from three games with a 3-1 win over St. Catherine at Stadium East.
On Saturday, Kingston College (KC) secured the top spot in Group 2 with a 2-0 win over Excelsior also at Jamaica College.
Charlie Smith beat Kingston Technical4-1 in the other Group 2 game to advance alongside KC.
KC will play STATHS in one semi-final and JC will play Charlie Smith in the other.
Meanwhile, Mona, Excelsior, Kingston Technical and St. Catherine High will contest the Walker Cup.
In the daCosta Cup, Dinthill Technical and The Mannings School advanced to the semi-finals on Friday.
Dinthill won Zone 1 after beating Edwin Allen 1-0 at Drax Hall, their third win in as many games.
Christiana beat William Knibb 3-2 in the other Zone 1 match at Drax Hall.
Mannings played to a 1-1 draw with Munro College at STETHS to finish with seven points from their three matches and win Zone 2.
Vere Technical and Happy Grove played a seven-goal thriller in the other Zone 2 game at STETHS on the day, with the former prevailing 4-3.
On Saturday, Garvey Maceo pulled off something special to get into the semi-finals.
Entering their final match against St. Thomas Technical at Kirkvine, trailing STETHS by three goals on goal difference, Garvey Maceo produced a massive 12-0 victory over St Thomas Technical to win Zone 3 and advance.
STETHS tried their best with a 6-0 win over Frome Technical at home but it wasn’t enough.
Garvey Maceo and STETHS both finished with seven points but Garvey Maceo’s massive win meant they ended with a goal difference of +16 whereas STETHS, with a big win of their own, ended up with a goal difference of +11.
Edwin Allen, Christiana, Munro College, Vere Technical, STETHS and Frome, as second and third-placed finishers from the respective groups, have all qualified for the Ben Francis Cup.
The final two qualifiers as well as the final DaCosta Cup semi-finalists will be determined after rescheduled Zone-4 games on Tuesday when Clarendon College play McGrath High and Manchester High and Cornwall College meet.
Kingston College is now the only team in schoolboy football this season to have a 100 per cent win record after beating Kingston Technical 3-0 for their second straight win as quarterfinal-round action in Manning Cup on Wednesday.
KC now leads Group 2 with six points from their two games.
Trailing Kingston College with three points from two games is Excelsior High School, which suffered a 2-1 defeat to Charlie Smith High that was getting their first win of the round.
Kingston Technical have yet to register a point after losing their first two games.
In Group 1 play on Tuesday, defending champions Jamaica College became the first team to advance to the semi-finals with a hard-fought 5-3 triumph over ST Andrew Technical High School (STATHS).
JC remains atop of the group with six points from their two games ahead of STATHS on three and Mona, also on three, after their crucial 2-0 win over St. Catherine High.
STATHS and Mona will do battle to see who joins JC in the semis.
Over in the DaCosta Cup, Dinthill Technical and Edwin Allen both got wins in Zone 1 action on Tuesday to set up a winner-take-all game to decide which of the two will advance to the semi-finals.
Dinthill defeated William Knibb 3-0 while Edwin Allen comfortably got by Christiana High 4-0 in a double-header at Manchester High.
Dinthill and Edwin Allen now both have six points from two matches with Dinthill currently ahead with a goal difference of 7 to 6 for Edwin Allen.
Mannings got their second win in Zone 2 with a 6-0 thrashing of Happy Grove at Drax Hall to remain atop the zone with six points from two games, two points ahead of Munro College, which outscored Vere Technical 4-3 and now have four points.
Happy Grove currently sits third with one point while Vere is fourth with none.
This is another scenario where the winner of the match between Mannings and Munro will advance to the semi-finals.
On Wednesday, Garvey Maceo and St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) played to a 2-2 draw at Kirkvine while Frome hammered St. Thomas Technical 9-2 at Drax Hall in Zone 3 action.
This was Garvey Maceo’s first draw this season after winning their first eight matches.
STETHS and Garvey Maceo both have four points after two games with STETHS leading the zone on goal-difference of five against two for Garvey Maceo.
Frome is third with three points and St. Thomas Technical are fourth with none.
STETHS will play Frome in their final match while Garvey Maceo will play St. Thomas Technical.
At Manchester High, Clarendon College got a 2-0 win over Manchester to get their second straight win in Zone 4 and move to six points.
The two teams that only got into the quarterfinal round of the Manning cup because Camperdown High and Tivoli Gardens were disqualified, won their opening matches of the Manning Cup quarter-finals.
Excelsior and STATHS had originally finished third and fourth in Group B of the Manning Cup preliminary round but advanced after Camperdown and Tivoli were disqualified from the tournament for using ineligible players.
STATHS won their Group 1 opener 4-1 over St. Catherine High on Friday while Excelsior High beat Kingston Technical 3-1 in their Group 2 opener on Saturday.
Jamaica College beat Mona High 2-0 in the other Group 1 match on Friday and Kingston College got by Charlie Smith 3-0 in the other Group 2 match on Saturday.
The quarter-final round of the DaCosta Cup also got underway on Saturday with Dinthill Technical blanking Christiana High 4-0. Meanwhile, Edwin Allen beat William Knibb 2-0 in the second Zone 1 game on the day.
Mannings were the only Zone 2 winners Saturday, beating Vere Technical 3-2.
Munro College, which have struggled for form played to a 1-1 draw with Happy Grove in the other Zone game on the day.
Munro entered that game on the back of two straight losses in their Zone C playoff games against Lacovia and B.B. Coke.
In Zone 3, Garvey Maceo continued their fantastic form this season by beating Frome 2-0 while STETHS easily got past St. Thomas Technical 6-1.
Elsewhere, defending champions Clarendon College and Manchester High got wins in Zone 4 action.
Clarendon College defeated Cornwall College 2-1 while Manchester High ran out 4-0 winners over McGrath High.
Quarterfinal action in both competitions resumes on Tuesday.
The sixteen teams to advance to the quarterfinal round of the DaCosta Cup were confirmed as zone play ended on Tuesday.
The teams will be divided into four groups of four.
Each team will play three matches and the winners of each group will advance to the semi-finals of the competition.
Group 1 will have William Knibb, Dinthill Technical, Christiana High and Edwin Allen.
Mannings, Happy Grove High, Munro College and Vere Technical make up Group 2.
Group 3 will see STETHS, Garvey Maceo, Frome Technical and St. Thomas Technical do battle while Group 4 is made up of Manchester High, Clarendon College, Cornwall College and McGrath High.
Quarterfinal round play in the DaCosta Cup kicks off on Saturday, December 11.
In daCosta Cup action on Saturday, William Knibb stayed perfect with a 5-0 win over Maldon, at home, for their fifth win in as many games.
The first game of the day at William Knibb featured Holland High and Herbert Morrison playing out a 1-1 draw.
In the other Zone A games, at Irwin High, Cornwall College got a 2-0 win over Spot Valley and Irwin beat St. James High 3-0.
William Knibb leads Zone A with 15 points followed by Cornwall College with 10 and Herbert Morrison with nine. Each team in Zone A has two matches left.
Munro College confirmed their place in the next round as Zone C winners with a 1-0 win over B.B. Coke in the first game of a doubleheader at STETHS.
The second game at STETHS saw Lacovia and Maggotty draw 2-2.
Munro will be joined in the next round by STETHS who got a 4-0 win over Mt. St. Joseph, at Kirkvine, to finish second in the zone with 10 points.
Holmwood Technical beat DeCarteret College 4-0, at Manchester High, to move to fourth in Zone D on seven points, three behind Manchester and Christiana and one behind Bellefield.
Defending champions, Clarendon College, are out of the competition as Lennon High and Edwin Allen advanced from Zone E.
Lennon topped the zone with 11 points and Edwin Allen finished second with 10, beating out Clarendon College on goal difference.
Lennon and Edwin Allen played out a 0-0 draw at Turners Field, meaning a draw would’ve been enough for Clarendon College to advance alongside Lennon.
That didn’t happen, however, as they were beaten 1-0 by Glenmuir, at Glenmuir, ending their hopes of defending their title.
Denbigh beat Claude McKay 5-1 in the other Zone E game on the day.
St. Thomas Technical and Happy Grove advanced from Zone G.
St. Thomas Technical finished as zone winners with eight points and Happy Grove finished second with five points after a 6-2 win over Port Antonio High at Lynch Park.
Happy Grove finished with the same number of points and same goal difference as Paul Bogle High but finished ahead of them on goals scored with six compared to four.
Paul Bogle drew 1-1 with Seaforth, at York Oval, in the other zone game today.
In Zone H, Ocho Rios High and Dinthill Technical both scored 3-0 wins over York Castle High and Charlemont respectively in a doubleheader at Drax Hall.
Dinthill moved to 13 points to strengthen their zone lead, while Ocho Rios and Charlemont are second and third with eight points each.
Manning Cup
In Group B Manning Cup action, Tivoli beat Dunoon Technical 4-2 and Excelsior and STATHS played out a 3-3 draw in a doubleheader at Stadium East.
At the Spanish Town Prison Oval, St. Jago secured a 1-0 win over Jose Marti while Camperdown beat Jonathan Grant 1-0.
Camperdown remain perfect at the top of Group B with 15 points with Tivoli second on 10 and Excelsior third on eight.
In Group C, St. Catherine High beat Papine 3-0 in a 3:00pm game at Jamaica College.
The win moves St. Catherine to second in Group C on seven points behind KC with nine and ahead of Mona with four.
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