Garvey Maceo and Mannings will contest the final of the 2022 ISSA daCosta Cup after dramatic semifinal wins at the STETHS Sports Complex.
In the doubleheader, Garvey Maceo stunned a more heavily favoured Clarendon College 3-2, while Mannings battled to a hard-fought penalty shootout win against highflying Dinthill.
In the opening match, Mannings seemed well on the way to a win in regular time after Jahmaleek Porter's 55th-minute header remained buttressed by a stubborn defense line with less than 10 minutes remaining.
In the 83rd minute, however, Shamair Hutchinson pulled the teams level after firing wide of Mannings goalkeeper Ashwani Campbell, who had a stubborn display between the sticks all game.
Mikhail Romans who replaced Campbell heading into the penalty shootout came up with heroics of his own in a 4-2 shootout win, after stopping the shot of Hutchinson, to push Mannings to their first-ever final.
In the second match, Clarendon College proved to be their own worst enemy early on, after a defensive mix-up gifted Gregory Cousins with an open net one minute into first-half stoppage time. The underdogs doubled their lead soon after the resumption after Cleo Clarke slammed a low fierce shot into the net in the 46th minute.
Jaheim Rose gave Clarendon College a lifeline in the 51st minute with a goal from the penalty spot, but Clarke scored again in the 80th to put the game out of reach. Damion Abrahams corner went straight into the with five minutes left to give the defending champions faint hope but the goal proved to be a mere consolation.
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.
As group play in zone F of the daCosta Cup comes to an end tomorrow, there are still four teams in contention to progress to the next round.
Garvey Maceo have already booked their place in the next round as zone winners on the back of a perfect four wins from four games so far.
Their opponents tomorrow, Foga Road, currently third in the zone on six points, need a win to maintain any chance of qualifying for the next round as second-place finishers in the zone.
The match between those two is the second of a doubleheader at Foga Road and will kick off at 3:30 pm.
The first half of the doubleheader will give Vere Technical, who are second in the zone on seven points, a chance to ensure qualification with a win over Kemps Hill.
The 3:30 pm game at Garvey Maceo between Central High and Old Harbour features the other two teams with an outside chance of getting to the next round.
With both teams on four points, whoever wins that match has an outside chance of advancing if both Vere Technical and Foga Road lose.
Central High has the best goal difference out of those four teams with +2, while both Vere and Foga Road have a goal difference of +1.
Old Harbour has a goal difference of -1.
On Saturday, zones C, E and G will all be decided as well.
Zone C is the most exciting with five teams having a chance to qualify.
Munro College and B.B. Coke are the top two teams in the zone with nine and seven points respectively.
Those two will meet in the 1:15 pm match at STETHS and whoever prevails will advance as zone winners.
STETHS are currently third in the zone on seven points and would secure qualification to the next round with a win over Mt. St. Joseph at Kirkvine in their 1:15 pm clash.
Lacovia and Maggotty are fourth and fifth with six points each and one could qualify with a win and losses from both B.B Coke and STETHS.
In zone E, Lennon High, Clarendon College, and Edwin Allen all have a chance to advance.
Lennon and defending champions, Clarendon College, are both on 10 points with Lennon ahead on goal difference while Edwin Allen has nine points in third.
Lennon will play Edwin Allen in a 3:30 pm game at Turners Field while Clarendon College will battle Glenmuir in a 3:30 pm game at Glenmuir.
If Lennon wins against Edwin Allen, they will advance to the next round, along with Clarendon College, regardless of the result of Clarendon College vs Glenmuir.
If Edwin Allen beats Lennon, Clarendon would only need a draw with Glenmuir to advance.
With only five teams in zone G, St. Thomas Technical have already advanced as zone winners with eight points from their four matches.
Paul Bogle are second in the zone with four points from three games and would join them in the next round with a win over Seaforth at York Oval in their 3:30 pm encounter.
Port Antonio are third in the zone, also with four points, and would advance with a win over Happy Grove and a Paul Bogle draw or loss.
Port Antonio and Happy Grove will square off at Lynch Park at 3:30.
Seaforth and Happy Grove both have two points and could have outside chances to advance with wins.
Kingston Technical produced another impressive performance to remain at the top of group A as Manning Cup action continued today.
Goals from Worrell Nelson in the 2nd minute, Beeko Smythe in the 21st minute, and Tadane Williams in the 63rd minute propelled them to a 3-1 win over former champions, St. Georges College, in the first match of a doubleheader at Stadium East.
Lamonth Rochester got the goal for St. Georges College in the 11th minute.
Kingston Technical head coach, Shaun Charlton, pointed to his team’s discipline as a reason they were able to get the job done.
“We have discipline within the team and persons who want to show Jamaica, and by extension abroad, that there is talent in the inner city,” he said.
The second game of the doubleheader saw Kingston High beat Calabar 1-0 to register their first win of the season.
Bridgeport beat Charlie Smith 1-0 in the other group game at the Spanish Town Prison Oval.
Kingston Technical remains on top of the group with nine points followed by Charlie Smith in second with six and St. Georges College in third, also with six.
Meanwhile, in zone B Dacosta Cup action, a doubleheader at Llandilo saw one goal being scored between four teams.
Green Pond and Petersfield played out a 0-0 draw in the first encounter while the second game saw Godfrey Stewart secure a 1-0 over former champions, Rusea’s.
Frome Technical beat Green Island 4-0 in the 3:30 kick-off at Wespow Park.
Frome now moves to the top of the zone with nine points followed by Mannings in second with seven and Petersfield in third, also with seven points.
In zone D, Bellefield thrashed Alston 7-0 and Manchester beat Belair 2-0 in a doubleheader at Manchester.
In the other zone D game, Christiana secured a 2-1 win over Holmwood at Kirkvine.
Christiana still leads zone D with 10 points. Manchester and Bellefield are second and third with seven and five points respectively.
In Zone F, Garvey Maceo maintained their perfect record in the group stage so far with a 3-0 win over Central High at home.
The second game of the day at Garvey Maceo saw Vere Technical get a 2-1 win over Foga Road.
Garvey Maceo leads zone F with 12 points and Vere are second with seven.
McGrath beat York Castle 4-1 in the first game of a zone H doubleheader at Drax Hall.
Charlemont got a 5-2 win over St. Mary High in the second game.
With the win, Charlemont move to the top of the zone with eight points while Dinthill sits second on seven and Ocho Rios are third on five.
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.
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