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.
Camperdown High strengthened their position atop Group B by moving to a perfect nine points from three matches after securing a 2-1 win over STATHS in their 12:00 game at Stadium East.
Elsewhere, Dunoon Technical came back from two goals down to earn their first point of the season against Jonathan Grant in the 12:00 game at the Spanish Town Prison Oval. Jonathan Grant remains second in Group B with seven points from three games.
In other Group B results, Tivoli High scored a 2-0 win over Jose Marti at the Spanish Town Prison Oval and Excelsior beat St. Jago 2-1 at Stadium East.
Meanwhile, in the Dacosta Cup, a clash between the top two teams in Zone A saw William Knibb beat Herbert Morrison 4-1 in their 1:15 encounter at Irwin High thanks to a hat trick from Mark Lewis. William Knibb is now in sole possession of first place in the zone with a perfect nine points from three games, while Herbert Morrison remains second with six.
Cornwall College and St. James High played out a 0-0 draw in the second game of the day at Irwin. Elsewhere in Zone A, a double header at William Knibb saw Irwin beat Holland 3-2 and Spot Valley defeat Maldon 2-0.
On the other hand, in a battle of the bottom two teams in Zone C, Maggotty High secured a 4-0 win over Mount St. Joseph in a 3:30 fixture at STETHS to secure their first points of the season. Maggotty captain Rohan Palmer opened the scoring in the 22nd minute with a right-footed shot from just outside the 18-yard box. Their lead was doubled in the 48th minute by Andre Ennevor. Raheem Williams came off the bench to get goal number three in the 82nd minute and the scoring was completed two minutes later by another substitute, Robinho Barrett.
Maggoty High head coach, Xavier Hendricks, was happy with the result.
“The aim today was to get the three points and I’m happy with the three points, just to get some points on the table for the upcoming games that we have.”
In Zone E, Clarendon College were awarded a 3-0 win over Claude McKay as the latter failed to show up to their clash scheduled for 1:15 at Turners Field.
Lennon High secured a 3-2 win over Glenmuir in the 3:30 game at Turner's Field to move to the top of the zone. Lennon and Clarendon College now both have seven points with Lennon ahead on goal difference. Those two are closely followed by Glenmuir and Edwin Allen who are both on six after Edwin Allen got by Denbigh 2-1 at Glenmuir for their second win of the season.
The Zone G double header at York Oval in St. Thomas ended without any goals. In the first game, Paul Bogle was held to a goalless draw by Happy Grove and the game between Seaforth and St. Thomas Technical followed the trend.
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.
Defending Manning Cup champions Jamaica College remained winless after two games this season after falling to a shock 0-1 loss at home against Kingston Technical High School in Group A action on Wednesday.
Jaheem Bryan scored the winning goal for Kingston Technical that see them climb to fourth place in the group with three points, two more than Jamaica College that have one point from their two games so far. JC drew their opening match against Calabar High School 0-0.
Elsewhere in the group, Calabar secured a 5-0 win over Bridgeport in the 12:00 kick-off at Stadium East thanks to a Darren Chinnon hat trick.
In the 3:00 pm match at the same venue, Demar Brown got both goals as Charlie Smith defeated Kingston High 2-0.
Over in the rural DaCosta Cup competition, DeCarteret College and Bellefield High played to an exciting 2-2 draw in Group D action at the Manchester High School Field.
DeCarteret’s Alex Muschamp opened the scoring in the 57th minute with an acrobatic finish off a corner kick. DC doubled their lead two minutes later when team captain Douglas Whitely scored with a free-kick from beyond the half-line, the ball taking an awkward bounce over the head of Bellefield goalkeeper Chad Wright.
Bellefield would eventually rally and cut the deficit in half in the 70th minute through a tidy finish from Mark Rowe. They levelled the scores in the 87th minute through a Renardo Forquharson penalty.
DeCarteret College assistant coach, Merrick Plummer, put the result down to a loss in concentration by his team.
“We’re not happy because we were leading 2-0 until the last 20 minutes," he said. "We lost focus and the concentration level dropped so we ended up giving away the two late goals.”
Bellefield head coach Rayon Johnson regretted missed chances by his team.
“It’s not a happy moment to come out with a point. We started out well, created a few chances that we should have scored but it’s just unfortunate that we conceded and everything went on its head,” he said.
In other results:
Group B
Green Pond 4 Godfrey Stewart 0
Mannings School 3 Green Island 1
Petersfield 3 Rusea’s 1
Group C
Munro College 1 Maggotty High 0
STETHS 0 B.B. Coke 0
Group D
Christiana 5 Belair 1
Holmwood Technical 0 Manchester High 0
Group F
Kemps Hill 1 Foga Road 3
Old Harbour 1 Garvey Maceo 2
Group H
McGrath High 2 Charlemont 2
York Castle 3 St. Mary High 2
Ocho Rios High 0 Dinthill Technical 0
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.
The Jamaican government has given the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA) the green light for the staging of schoolboy football this season. As such, ISSA said it is now finalizing arrangements to commence the Manning Cup and DaCosta Cup on Friday, November 12 or Saturday, November 13.
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