Kingston College secured their 33rd hold on the Boys title and Edwin Allen secured their ninth hold on the Girls crown as the ISSA Boys and Girls Championships came to a close at the National Stadium in Kingston on Saturday.
Edwin Allen finished with 352 points followed by Hydel (295), St. Jago High (249), Holmwood (174) and Excelsior (107).
On the Boys side, Kingston College finished with a mammoth 372 points to win ahead of Jamaica College (300.83), Calabar (170), St. Jago (147) and Edwin Allen (95).
Edwin Allen’s team of Serena Cole, Tina Clayton, Brandy Hall and Tia Clayton sped to a world high school record 43.29 to win the Class I Girls 4x100m Relay ahead of St. Jago High (45.05) and Hydel High (45.12).
The Class II event was won by Holmwood Technical in 46.33 ahead of St. Catherine High (46.45) and Edwin Allen (46.55).
St. Jago won the Class III race in 45.64 ahead of Hydel (46.19) and Holmwood Technical (46.67) while Immaculate Conception took the Class IV relay in 47.32 over Edwin Allen (48.25) and Hydel (48.58).
Jamaica College won the Boys Class I event in 39.43 ahead of St. Jago (39.89) and Camperdown (40.02).
Kingston College sped to 41.28 to win the Class II relay ahead of STETHS (41.74) and Calabar (41.86).
Calabar won the Class III event in 43.99 ahead of St. Jago (44.86) and JC (44.88).
Edwin Allen tasted victory in the Girls 1600m Sprint Medley in 3:58.87 ahead of Alphansus Davis High (4:06.74) and Holmwood Technical (4:07.31) while Kingston College won the Boys event in 3:27.66 ahead of STETHS (3:27.70) and Jamaica College (3:30.97).
Brianna Lyston anchored Hydel to victory in the Girls 4x400m Relay in 3:35.38 ahead of Edwin Allen (3:37.71) and Holmwood (3:38.34).
Jamaica College ran 3:10.04 to win the final event of Champs 2022, the Boys 4x400m ahead of Kingston College (3:10.68) and St. Jago (3:11.69).
In the field, Serena Cole, before running a leg on Edwin Allen’s victorious 4x100m team, won the Class I Long Jump in 6.36 ahead of St. Jago’s Machaeda Linton (5.82) and her Edwin Allen teammate Paula-Ann Chambers (5.71).
Edwin Allen’s Christopher Young got his third medal of the championships with gold in the Class I Boys Shot Put with 19.37m ahead of Calabar’s Kobe Lawrence (18.86) and St. Jago’s Brandon Gayle (18.30).
KC took gold in the Boys Class I High Jump through Verrol Sam (2.05m) who won ahead of STETHS’ Dejone Raymond (2.00m) and St. Jago’s Demario Prince (2.00m).
KC’s Aaron McKenzie added to his gold medal in the Class II High Jump by jumping out to 14.27 to win the Class II Triple Jump ahead of the JC pair Chavez Penn (14.22) and Euan Young (14.15m).
ISSA Boys and Girls Championships pundit Hubert Lawrence believes that Kingston College and Edwin Allen are favourites to win the Boys and Girls titles, respectively, as the competition get underway at the National Stadium on Tuesday.
“It looks to me as if the boys' side could be quite close. Both KC, the 2019 champions, and JC, the 2021 champions, are quite strong,” Lawrence said.
“Early in the season, it looked as if JC was not as significantly strong as KC in Class III, but each week I saw the JC Class III look better and better and it may be that on balance now, the two teams are quite strong. I don’t think there’s a walkover even though, in general, KC might look a little bit ahead,” he added.
Lawrence also expressed where the main strengths of both teams are.
“Where KC is brilliantly strong is in hurdles across the classes while JC is brilliantly strong in the 800, 1500 area across all the classes. It may be that those strengths and balances cancel out and in the 800s and 1500s, there is an extra race than the hurdles because there is no Class III 400m Hurdles but there’s Class III 800m and 1500m,” he said.
On the Girls' side, Lawrence believes that despite the fact that Hydel looked good all season, Edwin Allen is still the team to beat.
“Girls Champs will be quite competitive as well. Edwin Allen is coming on every week. They’ve had a late start to training and rain in the hills in Frankfield but they look to be coming on each week and I would have to say they’re the favourites to defend their title,” he said.
“Who’s coming at them? Hydel. One of the remarkable things about coach Cory Bennett is his ability to hide a great side in plain view. So, you might go and score them 10 points but they’re really worth 17. St. Jago is also like that this year but coach Michael Dyke at Edwin Allen is a master at getting his teams to peak at the right time so that is up in the air but I say Edwin Allen would go in feeling in a stronger position than KC on the Boys' side,” he added.
Switching gears from teams to individuals, who, apart from the obvious candidates, does Lawrence have his eyes on to do big things at Champs?
“I’d go Alexis James from Petersfield in the Girls Class I sprint hurdles. Because Class I has a glittering 100m and 200m compliment of athletes like the Clayton twins and Briana Lyston, not many people are looking at the sprint hurdles," he said.
"James won at Carifta trials and in that race too, Oneika Wilson of Hydel got to the World Junior final but couldn’t run because of COVID protocols. Both of them are not far away from the Champs record of 13.12 so I think that’s an event we have to look at. We’re very sprint focused but I think the sprint hurdles with Megan Tapper getting the bronze in Tokyo, with us having two world champions in that event in Danielle Williams and Brigitte Foster-Hylton, that’s an event now at the Class I level that might just move forward,” he said.
“On the Boys' side, one athlete that we might not watch too much because we’re sort of track-focused is Christopher Young of Edwin Allen, former Class II discus champion. He’s been fantastic in the shot put, discus and javelin. I think his teammate, Trevor Gunzel, is just as good as he is in the shot as well as World Under-20 finalist Kobe Lawrence of Calabar so he won’t have it easy,” he said.
Edwin Allen’s Class I Girls 4x100m team stole the show at Saturday’s staging of the 2022 Gibson/McCook Relays at the National Stadium in Kingston.
The quartet of Serena Cole, Tina Clayton, Brandy Hall and Tia Clayton had a string of flawless baton exchanges to eventually cross the finish line in a time of 43.37 seconds, a new meet record and high school world record.
They finished more than a full second ahead of Hydel who ran 44.40 for second place while St. Jago finished third in 45.50.
Edwin Allen also took the girls Class 4 4x100 in 48.81 and the 4x200m Open in 1:35.91.
Hydel High girls won the Girls Class 2 4x100m in 44.62 and the 4x400m relay in 3:33.76.
Holmwood Technical was also in record-breaking form in the Girls Sprint Medley with 3:55.77 to better the previous meet record of 4:00.83.
Meanwhile, Jamaica College’s 4x800m team was also in fine form, running a new meet record of 7:24.30 to finish almost 12 seconds ahead of second-place finishers Kingston College who ran 7:36.21. St. Jago was third in 7:45.46.
JC smashed the previous meet record of 7:31.71.
Kingston College won two of the four sprint relays, running 44.36 and 45.99 to win Classes 3 and 4, respectively.
The Class 1 4x100m was won by St. Jago in 40.26 ahead of JC (40.40) and St. Catherine High (40.50) while Calabar stormed to victory in Class 2 in 42.19 ahead of KC (42.26).
St. Jago also won the final event of the meet, the boys’ 4x400m in 3:10.48 ahead of KC (3:11.43) and JC (3:12.49).
JC won the Boys’ Sprint Medley in 3:30.82 ahead of KC (3:31.53) and Calabar (3:38.40).
There were also some standout performances from the seniors on display, namely Tissana Hickling and Lushane Wilson.
Hickling won the Women’s Long Jump in 6.70m and 100m in 11.85 while Wilson leapt to a new personal best 2.21m to win the Men’s High Jump.
Kingston College secured their second trophy of this schoolboy football season by defeating Garvey Maceo 2-0 to secure the Olivier Shield at STETHS today.
One week after beating Jamaica College on penalties to lift the Manning Cup, the North Street-based school stood opposite daCosta Cup champions Garvey Maceo, who dominated Manning’s 5-0 to lift the title last week.
KC’s first goal came from a set-piece after Louis Watson headed home a corner from captain Jemone Barclay in the 44th minute.
The Manning Cup champions then doubled their lead in the 54th minute when Barclay slotted home a close-range left-footed finish.
This is KC’s first Olivier Shield since 1986 and their seventh overall.
Kingston College dethroned rivals Jamaica College to claim their 16th Manning Cup title.
After playing out a 1-1 draw in regulation, Kingston College held their nerve to secure a 5-4 penalty shootout victory in the game at Stadium East.
Kingston College took the lead in the 29th minute through talisman Christopher Pearson who gave them the advantage with a calm finish.
Jamaica College got their equalizer with a 43rd-minute free-kick from captain Duncan McKenzie.
The game ended 1-1 after 90 minutes which sent the game to penalties.
Kingston College captain Jemone Barclay stepped up to slot home KC’s first penalty.
Romaine Blake followed suit for Jamaica College to make it 1-1.
Carrick Stewart of KC and Michael Graham of JC then both scored to make it 2-2.
KC’s goal-scorer on the day, Christopher Pearson, then stepped up to kick the third penalty but was the first casualty as his penalty was saved by JC goalkeeper Denzel Smith.
Captain Duncan McKenzie then scored for JC to make it 3-2 in the shootout.
KC’s Romario Campbell, who was put on at the end of added time specifically take a penalty, scored to make it 3-3.
JC’s Giovanni Mitto then stepped up to try and make it 4-3 but blasted his penalty over the bar.
Louis Watson then scored to make it 4-3 to KC.
JC’s Tarick Ximines scored to make it 4-4 and take it to sudden death before KC’s Demario McCarthy scored for KC to make it 5-4.
The match was decided when Jaheem Fraser’s penalty was saved by KC goalkeeper David Martin.
KC secured their 16th hold on the Manning Cup and a date with daCosta Cup champions Garvey Maceo in the Olivier Shield.
Defending champions Jamaica College will have to defeat rivals Kingston College if they want to retain their ISSA Manning Cup title after both secured semi-final wins at Stadium East today.
In the first semi-final, Jamaica College secured a comfortable 3-0 win over Charlie Smith.
JC took the lead through a clinical left-footed strike from Dwight Merrick in the 36th minute after a brilliant bit of work from Tarick Ximines to set him up.
Ximines then got a goal of his own to double their lead in the 67th minute and the scoring was completed by substitute Giovanni Mitto in the 92nd minute.
Kingston College came from behind twice to secure a 4-2 win over St. Andrew Technical in the second semi-final.
STATHS took advantage of a defensive mistake by KC and took the lead in the sixth minute through captain Omar Reid.
Their lead didn’t last long as KC equalized in the 11th minute through a right-footed strike from Jaheim Johnson.
A second defensive error by KC allowed Omar Laing to restore the lead for STATHS in the 21st minute.
KC began the second half with sustained pressure and it paid off when Ronardo Burgher made it 2-2 with a clinical header in the 60th minute.
They took the lead for the first time in the 69th minute when substitute Louis Watson headed home from a brilliant cross from captain Jemone Barclay to make it 3-2.
Christopher Pearson got a fourth goal with a magnificent free kick in the 74th minute to complete the scoring for KC and secure a 4-2 win and a spot in the final.
Jamaica College will be looking for their 31st hold on the Manning Cup title while Kingston College will be looking for their 16th in the final, which will be played on Saturday, January 22.
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.
Schoolboy football action is gearing up to resume in the new year as the draw for the ISSA Champions Cup took place on Wednesday.
January 5th is the date schoolboy football fans will circle as defending champions Kingston College will begin their defence of their crown against Manning’s School at STETHS in a 3:00pm fixture.
At the same venue at 1:00pm, STATHS will do battle with Dinthill Technical.
Stadium East will host the other two quarterfinal matches on the day, with Charlie Smith locking horns with Clarendon College at 1:00pm and Jamaica College squaring off against Garvey Maceo at 3:00pm.
The winners will advance to the semi-finals to be played on Saturday, January 8th at either Stadium East or the National Stadium with the final scheduled to be played on January 15th.
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.
Camperdown and Tivoli Gardens High have both been removed from the remainder of the Manning Cup after it was found that they both used ineligible players.
As both teams were in Group B, they will be replaced in the quarterfinal round by the third and fourth-placed teams from the group, Excelsior High and STATHS.
The new list of teams advancing to the quarterfinal round now reads: Jamaica College, Kingston Technical, Excelsior High, STATHS, Kingston College, Mona High, Charlie Smith, and St. Catherine High.
JC, Mona, STATHS, and St, Catherine High will be in Group 1 while KC, Excelsior, Charlie Smith, and Kingston Tech will be in Group 2.
Each team will play each other once and the top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
The eight teams that will be involved in the Manning Cup quarterfinal round have been set as group stage play concluded on Monday.
Jamaica College and Kingston Technical advanced from Group A as the top two teams while Charlie Smith advanced as one of the two best third-placed finishers after scoring a 1-0 win over St. George’s College in their rescheduled game at Stadium East.
Camperdown and Tivoli were the only two teams to advance from Group B while Kingston College, Mona High, and St. Catherine High advanced to the quarters from Group C to complete the field.
KC beat St. Catherine 2-1 to finish as group winners with a perfect 15 points from five games.
Mona finished second and St. Catherine advanced as the other best third-placed team.
The Manning Cup quarterfinal round is currently scheduled to get underway on Saturday, December 10th.
St. Catherine High got their second win in as many games to move to the top of Group C as action continued in the Manning Cup competition on Thursday with a 26-0 hammering of St Mary's College at Stadium East in Kingston.
It was the largest margin of victory in the competition in decades.
Joel Palmer and Nickel Ellis each scored six goals for St. Catherine who led 19-0 at halftime.
However, despite the massive margin of victory, St. Catherine High's assistant coach Andre Daley was still not satisfied with the team's performance.
“The most important thing is that we got the three points but we didn’t play to our full potential today,” he said.
Meanwhile, Kingston College smashed Clan Carthy 7-0 in the early game at Stadium East to move to second in the group and join St. Catherine with six points from two games, trailing only on goal difference.
Elsewhere in the group, Mona High rebounded from their opening-day loss to KC by beating Papine 10-0 at Jamaica College to move to fourth place in the group with three points from their two games behind St. Catherine, KC and Wolmer’s, whose next match is against KC on November 24, at Stadium East.
Wolmer's and Mona both have three points but Wolmer's are third thanks to their 13-0 thumping of St. Mary's College in their first game.
Proper time management and self-discipline might sound like clichés, but it is exactly what has propelled Jamaica College’s Digicel Manning Cup Captain Duncan McKenzie to nine CSEC Subjects – all grade 1s with eight straight A profiles.
The 17-year-old player, who as a precocious 15-year-old netted three goals and had eight assists as Jamaica College (JC) won their 30th Manning title in 2019, is now trusted with the task of leading the “Dark Blues” this season to defend their crown and to lead his school’s pursuit of a record 31 Manning Cup titles.
The pressure has never been an issue for McKenzie based on his ability to successfully balance school work and sports over the years even as he is expected to lead with distinction on the field as he did in the classroom.
While in third form, he aced his Human and Social Biology CSEC examinations with a Grade 1 and a straight-A profile and followed up with passes in English A, English B, Mathematics, Spanish, Physics, Information Technology, Principles of Business and Principles of Accounts.
“I believe the key to balancing school work and football is proper time management and self-discipline. From a very young age, this has been emphasized by both my parents and I have learnt to structure my time well,” said McKenzie.
“Yes, it is difficult to strike the balance but it can be achieved. My advice to the younger generation is to practice good habits from early so that they become routine”.
Young McKenzie who idolizes Lionel Messi and loves Barcelona, one day hopes to play football at the highest level.
“I aspire to play football professionally. However, I would still like to pursue a degree in Accounting or Business Management,” he explained.
JC drew their opening match against Calabar 0-0 on Saturday and is joint third in what is arguably the group of death that includes five former champions in early group leaders St George’s College and Charlie Smith High School.
However, McKenzie is confident his team will rise to the challenge.
“I believe that we have a talented and highly motivated squad that is capable of defending our title,” said McKenzie.
“Playing without spectators is a new and strange experience. I believe that it lessens the performances of all teams in the competition.
“We are all aware of how important it is to have fan support at matches. They spur teams on and provide additional motivation for players to perform well. I hope that in the near future, we will be able to bring back fans safely to the games.”
JC has again been tagged as favourites but McKenzie is not taking any team lightly.
“As a result of the pandemic, there are a lot of unknowns. Consequently, I regard all teams in the competition as challengers for the title,” he said.
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