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.
BB Coke High School won its first-ever U16 rugby league title after defeating Campion College 12-4 in the National U16 9s tournament at The Cedar Grove Academy in Portmore, St Catherine on Friday, May 7.
The win means BB Cokes ended the tournament on six points after also beating Spanish Town 24-8. However, they lost to Cedar Grove Academy 16-20. Spanish Town also ended on six points had an inferior points difference.
“The boys promised to bring the 9s title back home after they lost the 13s semi-finals to eventual champions Campion College. The win was built on getting the ball to our speedsters on the wings and strong defense in the middle of the park,” said winning coach Kamar Findlay.
“I was a bit surprised when we lost to Cedar Grove in our second match, but it served as a wake-up call for the team because they came out well against Spanish Town and got the win needed to top the tournament.
“We are extremely happy. This is our first title at the Under 16 level and the school and the entire community of Junction is celebrating with us.”
Wednesday was an action-packed day of schoolboy football across the island.
In Manning Cup action, Kingston Technical recorded a clinical 3-0 win over Bridgeport at the Spanish Town Prison Oval to move back to the top of Group A with 12 points from five games, two points ahead of defending champions, Jamaica College.
Charlie Smith currently sits third in the group with nine points from their five games.
Group B may be the most exciting as there are five teams that have a chance to qualify for the quarterfinals alongside Camperdown, who have 16 points from their six games, with one match to play. Excelsior High School and Jonathan Grant both moved to 11 points from six games after defeating Jose Marti and Tivoli, respectively.
Excelsior beat Jose Marti 6-0 at Jamaica College and now sits second in the group on 11 points with a goal difference of 11 while Jonathan Grant won 1-0 over Tivoli Gardens at the Spanish Town Prison Oval to move to third on 11 points with a goal difference of three.
Tivoli is fourth in Group B with 10 points while STATHS, who scored a 6-0 win over Dunoon Technical at Stadium East on Wednesday, are fifth on nine points.
St. Jago High is sixth in the group with eight points.
Clan Carthy High beat Papine High 1-0 at Jamaica College in a battle of the two bottom teams in Group C.
Wednesday also saw the beginning of the quarterfinal round playoff fixtures for Zones C, F and G in the DaCosta Cup.
In Zone C, the doubleheader at STETHS saw Lacovia record the only win of the day with a 2-1 victory over Munro College.
STETHS and B.B Coke played out a 3-3 draw.
The top four teams in Zone C have now all played six matches with one more playoff fixture remaining.
STETHS lead Zone C with 13 points followed by Munro College with 12, Lacovia on 10. B.B. Coke has seven points.
Meanwhile, Garvey Maceo maintained their perfect record with a 4-0 win over Foga Road in their Zone F playoff fixture at Garvey Maceo.
In the other playoff fixture in Zone F at Vere, the hosts secured a 1-0 win over Old Harbour High.
Garvey Maceo and Vere have all but confirmed their progression to the quarterfinal round with 18 and 13 points, respectively, with each having one match left to play.
Old Harbour are third on seven points and Foga Road are fourth on six.
The first set of matches in the quarterfinal playoff round in Zone G saw Happy Grove get a 4-1 victory over Port Antonio High to ascend to the top of the zone on 10 points.
St. Thomas Tech had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Seaforth in the other playoff fixture in the zone and now sits second on nine points.
Port Antonio are third on seven points and Seaforth are fourth with four points.
In the regular zone matches from Wednesday; in the Zone-A double-header at William Knibb, Irwin High and St. James High emerged winners.
Irwin got by Spot Valley 3-0 while St. James beat Maldon 4-0.
All eight teams in Zone A have now played six matches with William Knibb at the top with 15 points closely followed by Cornwall College with 13 and Irwin with 12.
Irwin and Herbert Morrison both have 12 points but Irwin is ahead on goal difference.
Mannings High School remains atop of Zone B following a 4-0 win over Green Pond.
Green Island and Rusea’s High played to a 2-2 draw at Green Pond.
Frome secured a 4-0 victory over Petersfield at Llandilo Sports Complex in the other Zone B fixture.
Mannings lead the seven-team zone with 13 points from their five matches. Frome Technical, which has also played five matches is second on 12 while Petersfield currently sits third on seven.
In the Zone D double-header at Manchester High, Manchester and Christiana both got crucial wins over Bellefield High and DeCarteret College respectively.
Manchester High won 3-1 to move to 13 points from their five games with a goal difference of 23 to lead the seven-team zone.
Christiana High beat DeCarteret College 2-0 to also move to 13 points from five games, only trailing Manchester on goal difference.
Holmwood Technical is now third in Zone D with 10 points from five games after hammering Alston High 7-0 at Kirkvine in the third Zone D match on the day.
Dinthill Technical secured their spot in the quarterfinal round with a 2-0 win over St. Mary High in the first game of a Zone H double-header at Drax Hall.
Dinthill advances as the winners of Zone H with 16 points from their six games.
The second match of the double-header saw Brown’s Town secure a crucial 1-0 win over York Castle to keep alive their hopes of a quarterfinal round berth.
In the third Zone H match on the day, McGrath earned a vital 3-2 win over Ocho Rios High to set up an exciting final match-day that will determine who will join Dinthill as quarterfinalists.
Ocho Rios, Charlemont and McGrath all have eight points heading into their final matches, with Ocho Rios currently occupying second-place with a plus-eight goal difference.
Charlemont High lie third with a goal difference of +1 and McGrath are fourth with a goal difference of 0.
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.
In the first game of a zone C doubleheader at STETHS, B.B. Coke secured a 2-1 victory over Lacovia.
Danyea Whitely scored both goals for B.B. Coke, the first coming off a brilliant team move just before halftime, in the 46th minute, and the second coming from a close range left-footed strike in the 76th minute.
B.B. Coke have now scored 22 goals in three games while conceding just one and lead zone C with seven points.
B.B. Coke head coach Kirk Ricketts is looking for consistency from the team after getting to the top of the zone.
“To remain consistent, we are not leading by ten points so we must be consistent and take it one game at a time,” he says.
The second half of the doubleheader saw Munro College defeat STETHS 2-1 with goals from Ceon Falconer in the 54th minute and Xavier Bruce in the 74th minute.
Donte Campbell scored a penalty for STETHS in the 83rd minute.
The win moves Munro up to third in the zone behind B.B Coke and Lacovia with six points while STETHS now sit fourth on four points.
Zone B leaders, Mannings, were held to a 2-2 draw by Rusea’s at Green Pond and now have seven points from three matches.
Frome Technical moved to third in the zone behind Mannings, and Petersfield, with six points, after a 3-1 win over Godfrey Stewart in their 3:30 game at Llandilo.
At Wespow Park, Green Island beat Green Pond 2-1 to get their first points of the season.
In Zone D action, leaders Christiana were held to a 1-1 draw by Bellefield at Kirkvine in their 3:30 encounter.
Elsewhere, Belair secured a 2-1 over Alston in the first match of a doubleheader at Manchester High to move into fourth in the zone.
Manchester moved to second in the zone by securing the biggest win of the day in the competition, a 7-0 demolition of DeCarteret College in the second game.
Christiana leads zone D with seven points followed by Manchester, Holmwood, and Belair with four points each.
In a zone F doubleheader at Foga Road, Vere Technical and Foga Road both secured 1-0 victories over Old Harbour and Central High respectively.
Garvey Maceo secured a 3-0 win over Kemps Hill at home in the other zone F game on the day.
Garvey Maceo leads zone F with nine points from three matches, followed by Foga Road on six and Central High on four.
Dinthill Technical defeated McGrath 4-0 at home to move to seven points and remain at the top of zone H.
Ocho Rios moved to second in the zone on five points after a 6-0 win over St. Mary High in the second match of a doubleheader at Drax Hall. Charlemont beat Brown’s Town 1-0 in the first match and moved to third in the zone, also on five points.
Manning Cup
Moving over to Manning Cup action, the first match of the group A doubleheader at Jamaica College saw Kingston Technical, who beat JC 1-0 in their last game in a shock result, produce another solid display to brush aside Kingston High 5-0 and move to the top of the group with six points from three games.
Jamaica College used goals from Giovanni Mitto and Duncan McKenzie to beat Charlie Smith 2-0 for their first win of the season in the second match of the doubleheader.
JC remain fifth in the group with four points from three games.
Elsewhere in group A, St. Georges College got their second win is as many games with a 1-0 win over Bridgeport at the Spanish Town Prison Oval to move to second.
Charlie Smith sits third on six points and Calabar are fourth on four points.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
