Alphansus Davis High and Cedric Titus High both confirmed their spots in the Round of 32 of the ISSA/Wata DaCosta Cup as the first round of competition ended on Monday.

Alphansus Davis High made it past the first round for the first time since 2018 when they were still named Spalding High after they held on for a 2-2 draw against Bellefield High, completing their Zone G playoff game that had started last week. They finished with 16 points in the first round.

At the same time, Cedric Titus High took the lone ‘wild card’ spot available to the best third-place team.

They joined the 30 schools that had already booked their places up to Saturday for the Round of 32, which is set to get underway on Tuesday with one game, Port Antonio High against Dinthill Technical at Carder Park.

Christiana High won Zone G with 28 points, and Holmwood Technical won second with 22 points.

For their efforts, Alphansus Davis will play in Group 4 of the Round of 32 alongside Munro College, Maldon High, and Brown’s Town High,

Cedric Titus High was third in Zone D, behind Spot Valley High and William Knibb, and edged out Green Pond High for the best third-place team on goal difference after both had accumulated 19 points from 10 games.

Cedric Titus had a goal difference of 27 to Green Pond High’s five.

Also on Monday, Central High topped the Zone H table after playing out a 0-0 draw with defending champions Clarendon College.

Central finished with 20 points and will play in Group 6 in the second round while Clarendon College took second place with 19 points, edging Denbigh High, who beat Lennon High 4-1, on goal difference.

Clarendon College will play in Group 7, where they will meet Glenmuir High in a repeat of last season’s final, Paul Bogle High, and Titchfield High.

Denbigh High will contest Group 5 along with Belair High, Happy Grove High and Holmwood Technical.

Frome Technical topped Zone B with 26 points after a 4-0 win over Green Island thanks to a second consecutive hat trick from Stevaughn Spence.

The other goal came from Dwyane Watt for Frome Technical who will now take on Ocho Rios High, Black River High, and Cedric Titus in Group 2.

Rusea’s High took the runner-up spot after beating Knockalva Technical 5-1 in Lucea, with Michael Foga scoring a hat trick, and will play out of Group 1 against Cornwall College, Spot Valley High, and Kemps Hill High.

William Knibb registered win number four on the trot in Zone D of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Wata daCosta Cup as they blanked Cedric Titus 3-0 in a lopsided Trelawny derby at the parish’s stadium on Saturday.

Joshua Walker (36th), Jaheem Brown (50th), and Seron Williams (68th) propelled Dewight Jeremiah’s side to another three points as they remain in pole position ahead of Spot Valley, who also made it four-in-four as they blanked Muschett High 3-0 in the curtain-raiser of the double-header.

Both William Knibb and Spot Valley are on maximum 12 points, but the former continues to lead the way by virtue of a superior goal difference. Cedric Titus sit third on six points, and Discovery Bay is fourth on three points, while Muschett and Holland are yet to get on the board.

Jeremiah praised the performance of his youthful squad, which continues to grow with every game.

“The average age of the team is 14.5, but I think we learned from our last game against Discovery Bay that we had to be more creative when teams sit deep. The first goal epitomises what we did in training; we wanted all five vertical zones to be occupied when we attacked, and we had that in terms of the link up play, but the commitment that the boys showed today (Saturday) is above everything that we did, and that resulted in the clean sheet,” the tactician shared.

“Seron Williams is our second-string goalkeeper that we converted into a striker, and I think him and Jaheem Brown are just hugely technical. Joshua Walker also has an immense work rate; I played him at right back last season, and I am just teaching him to understand positional play in the middle of the park, and he soaks up everything,” he added.

Though William Knibb dominated proceedings, it was Cedric Titus that started more spiritedly as captain Terron Eccleston went on a break in the 25^th minute and was taken out by a defender at the edge of the 18-yard box. However, the resulting freekick amounted to nothing.

Eccleston again threatened three minutes later as he found space deep inside William Knibb’s quarters for a right-footed effort that just rolled wide of the left upright.

Having heeded the warnings, William Knibb launched a few attacks of their own, the first coming in the 36th when Walker finished from close range after getting on the end of a decent through pass from Koran Henriques to break the deadlock.

William Knibb should have doubled the lead in the 41st when Cedric Titus’ custodian Anthony Riley failed to gather the ball cleanly, but Prince Bernard somehow failed to convert from point blank range.

Still, with a 1-0 lead in their favour at the break, William Knibb were not disheartened and maintained their momentum on the resumption. They eventually doubled the lead five minutes in courtesy of Brown’s ferocious right-footed freekick from just over 20 yards out that had Riley beaten all ends up.

Williams pushed the game beyond Cedric Titus’ reach when Walker placed the ball perfectly into his path for a firm right-footed drive that left the hapless Riley flat-footed.

William Knibb should have had a fourth in the 76th as Riley again spilled the ball. However, Williams effort came back off the crossbar.

Cedric Titus fought on as Eccleston was sent through on goal, but their hopes of pulling one back were dashed as Camoy Phillips, in goal for William Knibb, left his line well to avert the danger.

Wade Crawford, Cedric Titus’ head coach, felt his team was lacking in all departments.

“We started the game slow and I think the game got away from us midway through the first half. It boils down to inexperience and the youngsters are learning the game; we are not as deep as we were last year so we definitely will be getting better but we need to work a little harder on our finishing. So it’s a work in progress,” he stated.

Saturday’s Results

St James High 1, Cornwall College 2

Frome vs Rusea’s (Rained out)

Grange Hill 2, Little London 1

Spot Valley 3, Muschett High 0

William Knibb 3, Cedric Titus 0

Munro 1, STETHS 1

Belair 5, Manchester High 1

May Day 2, deCarteret College 1

Mile Gully 1, Holmwood 2

Central High 1, Clarendon College 0

Garvey Maceo 2, Old Harbour 3

Kemps Hill 2, Porus 0

McGrath 1, Dinthill 1

Ocho Rios 7, York Castle 0

Former champions Cornwall College and St Elizabeth Technical High (STETHS), as well as Cedric Titus High, won their respective zones on Wednesday as the race for qualification points in the second round of the ISSA/Wata DaCosta Cup football competition heats up.

Lincoln Cox scored his second double of the season while Dane Buckley and Javaine Barnes scored one goal each as Cornwall College beat Spot Valley High 4-1 in their return round game as they cruised to 23 points and wrapped up Zone A honours.

Second-placed Irwin High, who were held 1-1 by Green Pond High at Green Pond, moved to 19 points, four points behind Cornwall College, with one game to go for both teams.

In another game, St James High beat Maldon High 4-0.

STETHS played out a 1-1 draw against Munro College at Munro, and the point took them to 23 at the top of Zone E, and any of the other teams cannot catch them.

BB Coke moved to 19 points, one point away from advancing from Zone E after a 3-1 win over Lacovia High.

Cedric Titus edged Browns Town High 2-1 and improved to 25 points more than any other team in Zone C can get, while William Knibb Memorial kept their slim hopes of advancing alive after beating Ocho Rios High 2-0 in their Zone C playoff game.

Wednesday also saw The Mannings School wrap up their spot in the second round after beating Knockabout Technical 3-0 in their return leg Zone D game played at the Mannings grounds.

Gregory Phillips scored twice while Akieme Gordon got the third.

The win carried Mannings School to 16 points from five wins and a draw as they reclaimed the lead from Petersfield High, who are tied on 13 points with Black River High.

Mannings School, who made it to the semi-finals in the last two competitions, can win the zone on Saturday’s final game against Grange Hill.

On Thursday, despite being held to a 2-2 draw by Knox College, Mile Gully High is the first second-round qualifier from Zone G.

The point Mile Gully earned from the return round game was enough to see them win the zone as they took their points tally to 19, four more than second-placed Christiana High and five more than Knox College.

It was Mile Gully’s first time qualifying for the second round since the 2018 season.

Belair High and Edwin Allen High are also through to the second round after both scored 2-0 wins on Thursday.

Christian Henry and Daniel Brown scored for Belair High in their win over May Day High to push their points tally to 24 to take the second spot behind Manchester High, who were 1-0 winners over DeCarteret College and took their points tally to 27.

Edwin Allen High, who won the Ben Francis KO two years ago, joined defending champions Clarendon College as the qualifiers from Zone H after beating Lennon High 2-0.

Jahleel Blackwood and team captain Kimolar Ferron scored to give Edwin Allen a 2-0 win over Lennon High in their first meeting of the season, improved to 18 points, and secured second place.

Champions Clarendon College extended their winning run to seven games with a 4-1 win over Thompson Town and are 21 points at the top of Zone H.