Reigning champions Mona High produced a six-star performance to start the second round of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Manning Cup as they hammered St Jago High 6-0 in a lopsided Group One affair at Stadium East Field on Friday.

A brace from Javier Dunn (30th, 56th), and one each from Denzel McKenzie (11th), Demarion Harris (37th), Carlton Brown (67th), and goalkeeper Riquelme Edwards with an 83rd-minute penalty conversion, did the damage for Mona High.

The win saw them take an early lead in the group, which also includes Campion College and St George’s College.

Earlier, St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) came from behind to hold Wolmer’s Boys to a 2-2 stalemate in the curtain-raiser of the double-header. Both STATHS and Wolmer’s Boys have a point in Group Three, with Hydel and Kingston College set to lock horns in the other group fixture on Saturday.

In the feature contest, Mona were always favoured to come out tops given their impressive run of form so far this season, while St Jago progressed as one of the best third-placed teams.

It took Mona little time to assert their authority on the encounter as McKenzie drove home a firm effort from just over 20 yards out for his 13th of the season.

The lead was doubled in at the half-hour mark when Dunn slammed home a right-footer past Adriano Lawrence in goal for St Jago to finish off a decent build-up.

Harris then got in on the act seven minutes later as he fired home after St Jago failed to clear their lines from a corner to put Mona 3-0 up at the break.

The one-way traffic continued on the resumption as St Jago’s lone clearest shot on target was Reece Roman’s 54th-minute shot from a distance.

Two minutes later, Dunn extended Mona’s lead when his intended cross swirled towards goal and left the hapless Lawrence beaten all ends up.

As if things couldn’t get worse for St Jago, Brown struck what might arguably be the goal of the season as he unleashed a delightful drive from the top of the centre circle that gave Lawrence no chance at a save.

Edwards then capped the win with an easy conversion from the 12-yard spot after Brown was felled inside the danger area.

Earlier, STATHS came from behind twice, including a stoppage time equaliser to deny Wolmer’s Boys three points.

Wolmer’s opened the scoring in the seventh minute when captain Daquan Duhaney comfortably slotted home from close range.

However, the lead was short-lived as STATHS pulled level through Kennardo Gordon, whose deflected effort flew past Wolmer’s goalkeeper Yuri Dryden.

Wolmer’s regained the lead in the 34th minute courtesy of Alex Wright’s easy tap-in.

STATHS launched a series of attacks in the hunt for the equaliser and would have had on a few occasions, but for some excellent glovework by Dryden, who literally three his body on the line to keep Wolmer’s in front.

But, STATHS were not to be denied, as they inevitably got back on level terms when Ajetai Marshall fired home in the 90+5 minute to keep his team in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth.

The top two from each group will contest the quarterfinals.

While pleased with aspects of their team’s display in the first warm-up contest, Trinidad and Tobago’s Under-20 Men’s Head coach Brian Haynes and his Jamaican counterpart John Wall are optimistic of a more efficient display from their respective units when the two teams meet again on Thursday.

The young Soca Warriors edged the young Reggae Boyz 3-2 in the first contest at the University of TT, O'Meara Campus recently, with Lindell Sween, Levi Jones and Michael Chaves on target for the hosts, while Jahmani Bell and Demarion Harris, pulled things back for Jamaica.

That contest, both coaches believe, not only provided the impetus needed to finalize selection of their respective squads for next month’s Caribbean phase of the Concacaf Under-20 Men’s Championships, as they only had a few training sessions prior, which doesn’t necessarily assist in highlighting the true competitive nature and, by extension, cohesiveness of the teams.

Haynes expressed satisfaction with the progress of his players, especially as he explored different combinations.

"As far as I am concerned the exercise was good. Nobody's hurt, thank God. The guys worked hard and the main group, the group that started, they did what we wanted them to do, and I thought the guys that came in did a good job as well,” Haynes said.

"I commend the Jamaica team for coming down and giving us a good game, because this is what we need and this is what they need and hopefully this propels us to keep playing at the level I know we can,” he added.

Still, no performance is ever perfect, and as such, Haynes said the objective remains to strengthen their flaws in all areas to ensure that the young Soca Warriors not only prove more formidable in the next game, but also against their more illustrious opponents in future fixtures.

Trinidad and Tobago and Jamaica will lock horns in the second warm-up encounter on Thursday at Larry Gomes Stadium at 4:00 pm.

For the upcoming tournament, Haynes’s side will host Group D which includes Canada, Dominica and St Vincent and the Grenadines with only the group winner set to progress.

"There are things we have to work on, but right now I am really happy with the result for the boys,” Haynes noted.

Wall echoed similar sentiments, even as the young Reggae Boyz held Police FC’s youth team to a goalless stalemate in another encounter.

"The whole idea of these games is to create relationships and a common understanding on our game model. So, there are instances where we are kind of pleased with what we saw and for me it’s the bigger picture of getting ourselves ready and competitive for the tournament,” Wall shared.

"One of the core non-negotiables that we have is that no matter what, we don’t give up because we are playing for our nation which is a big responsibility.  So, there are areas we need to improve on with regards to our pressing, counter-pressing and some other technical things in that region,” he reasoned.

Wall’s side will contest Group F with Bermuda, Grenada and Martinique in St Kitts and Nevis in the upcoming tournament.

After round-robin play in the Concacaf qualifying opening round between February 23 and March 2, the group winners will progress to the Championship round to join the six pre-seeded nations – United States, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Costa Rica, and the Dominican Republic –ranked in that order.

Craig Butler stressed the term unification of purpose, and also spoke highly of Mona High’s pride throughout the season. To some, it may have even seemed arrogant when he declared that there was no school in the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup to beat his team this year, and on Friday, Butler not only proved the doubters wrong, but more importantly, backed up the talk.

In only his third season in charge, Butler guided Mona High to its maiden schoolboy football title, as they edged Hydel High 1-0 in an entertaining final at the National Stadium.

Demarion Harris got the all-important goal that ensured Mona High became the 15^th school to hold the emblem of urban area schoolboy football supremacy. They now join Jamaica College, St George’s College, Kingston College, Wolmer’s Boys, Excelsior High, Tivoli High, Calabar High, Charlie Smith, Camperdown High, Norman Manley High, Bridgeport High, Dunoon Technical, Ardenne High and St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS), in achieving the feat.

It is also the first time in 22 years that a new team’s name is etched on the title, as for the last 17 years, in particular, the Manning Cup has resided on North Street and Old Hope Road.

An emotionally Butler attributed the team’s success to the bond that they share.

“This is what love does, love conquers all things. Look at what they gave us on the field today, all heart fight for the entire game, they wanted this, and they got it, so we are very proud…Mona pride. This is about believing in youth and having faith in yourselves, believing in your system and playing to your strengths.

“That’s what these boys did, none of these boys were ever called for Jamaica’s Under-15, Under-17 and under-20, nobody wanted them and look how good they are.  Look how Mona played, systematic right through,” Butler said in a post-game interview.

After a fairly cagey start, Mona injected some tempo into the contest with a tidy build-up which started with a long pass out by goalkeeper Akeem Bernard and ended with Kshaine Gordon playing a pass inside for Harris to fire home from deep inside the 18-yard box, for his fifth of the season.

Mona should have doubled the lead in the 16th, as Carlton Brown was left unmarked deep inside the area but steered his header, from Romarion Thomas’s cross, wide of the left upright.

Hydel belatedly came to life in attack and were enterprising in their build-up play in patches but couldn’t produce anything meaningful to beat Bernard in goal for Mona High.

Mona looked more threatening in open play after the interval, and bossed possession for the most parts, but found Hydel’s defence in a defiant mode.

It wasn’t until the backend of the contest that they got efforts on target, the first of which was in the 86^th when Thomas produced a delightful first touch to get around defender and unleash a stinging right-footed effort that rattled the crossbar.

The second came seconds later through Gordon’s follow-up effort that was parried by Tajarie Lee.