The stage is set for another thrilling chapter of schoolboy football as the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Champions Cup draw, conducted at SportsMax Studios on Tuesday, revealed a series of captivating matchups.

Chief among the fixtures to kick off this weekend’s quarterfinal round is the clash between reigning champions Glenmuir High and former champions Kingston College, as the tournament, which brings together the best from the Manning Cup and daCosta Cup competitions, promises fierce battles and a showcase of young talent.

Glenmuir High have been in impeccable form this season and are high-riding favourites to go all the way in the daCosta Cup. To begin their Champions Cup defence against Kingston College (KC) will certainly test their mettle, but they have so far displayed that they possess enough quality to overcome any challenge.

According to assistant coach Johnoy Chambers, Glenmuir, now making their fourth Champions Cup appearance, are riding high on years of developmental work.

“What we are doing at Glenmuir is just continuing the hard work we’ve been doing for the past three to four years. Being here is very important to us because the school strives to be the best both on and off the field," said Chambers.

Kingston College, a nine-time participant and winner in 2019, brings a legacy of dominance and is hungry to reclaim their place at the summit of schoolboy football.

In a historic clash, Ocho Rios High will make their second Champions Cup bow against debutants St Catherine High. Ocho Rios have been in good knick this season and will aim to continue that run of form, but St Catherine, under the stewardship of veteran coach Anthony Patrick, are determined to make an impact.

Patrick, a two-time Manning Cup-winning coach with Bridgeport, expressed pride in his team’s achievement. 

“It’s a joy for me to have a team here. We’ve been building well from preseason, and it’s now coming out on the field. We are going to give it our best shot," Patrick declared.

In another interesting clash, Hydel High will mark their fourth appearance in the Champions Cup when they face Garvey Maceo, who are no strangers to the tournament with six appearances.

Hydel, known for their resolute defence and quick transitions, will be eager to stamp their authority on the competition. However, Garvey Maceo are seasoned campaigners, and their current crop of players will look to rise to the occasion in this encounter. 

Meanwhile, Jamaica College (JC), a nine-time participant and 2022 Champions Cup winners, are peaking at the right time and, as such, will start favourites in their encounter against McGrath High, the reigning Ben Francis Cup champions.

Jamaica College’s decorated history speaks for itself, and members of Davion Ferguson’s current unit are seasoned in high-stakes matches. Still, they will be relying on tactical discipline to continue their rich history, while McGrath, buoyed by their recent cup triumph, will look to continue their upward trajectory.

Champions Cup Fixtures

Hydel High vs Garvey Maceo

Ocho Rios High vs St Catherine High

Jamaica College vs McGrath High

Glenmuir High vs Kingston College 

With the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) schoolboy football competitions serving as a feeder for the country's youth programmes, President Keith Wellington believes it is only fair that the schools' efforts are recognised when their respective players are called up for national duties.

Wellington's aired his grievances, as he is of the view that when Manning and daCosta Cup players are mentioned for national duties, they are recognised by their club affiliation and not necessarily by the schools they represent. 

As such, he called on the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) to be mindful of this and, by extension, to show the schools and ISSA more respect for their contributions in nurturing and developing these young talents.

“It would be nice when our national youth teams are named; you recognise the schools that these young men come from because we invest so much in them,” Wellington said during the schoolboy football competitions launch at the Stadium East on Wednesday.

“No disrespect to Mr [Rudolph] Speid and other club owners but when a young man turns up to attend national training, the first place he goes is to his coach or principal to say ‘Sir, I don’t have a boots’ or ‘I need fair to go to camp.’

“So give us a little respect and at least say that this boy played for Clarendon College or Mona High in the ISSA competitions because the truth is, without it, as bad Jamaica’s football is now, it would be worse. I’m asking our partners, the JFF, to give us some credit,” he added.

Wellington also urged the Michael Ricketts-led JFF to do their part in assisting ISSA to improve the schoolboy football product.

“Help our competitions be better. Train more referees so we don’t have to take our kids out of school on a Monday to play a match because we have to be spreading the games over five or six days of the week — focus on that,” a seemingly peeved Wellington stated.

ISSA President Keith Wellington accepts a symbolic cheque from Restaurants of Jamaica's brand manager, Andrei Roper.

That said, the ISSA boss has high hopes that this season, scheduled to kick off on September 7, will surpass expectations, as he hinted at some improvements to come.

"I think that if we are to grow the product, we have to look at innovative ways each year of changing the landscape, especially where support is concerned, not just from sponsors but from the public. The monopoly doesn't work in today's world, and so we have to look at what we can do differently to ensure that people remain interested in the sport, not just to play it but to participate as spectators and so on," Wellington shared.

"And so every year we try and do things differently. We will be doing some things differently that weren't announced today, but I'm sure if you visit our social media pages over the next few days, you'll see a difference. We know that the biggest entertainment from football in Jamaica comes from schoolboy football. The involvement of my students in particular, not just as players, but the school. There's just a different atmosphere during the first term of school, and so we look forward to that term when kids really enjoy being at school because of all the hype around the sport, and we expect to see some improvements," he noted.

The Manning and daCosta Cup competitions are set to kick off at the Montego Bay Sports Complex in Catherine Hall as Mona High and Clarendon College begin the defence of their respective titles. Jamaica College, McGrath High, and Glenmuir High are holders of the Walker Cup, Ben Francis Cup, and Champions Cup knockout titles.

A total of 86 schools—12 more than last year—will contest the rural area daCosta Cup, while 40 schools will lock horns for supremacy in the urban area Manning Cup. 

Though the format of the daCosta Cup, Champions Cup, Ben Francis Cup, and Walker Cup remains the same, the Manning Cup, unlike last year, which saw the second round being contested in a round of 32 format, will now be contested as a round of 16. 

This means that the top two from each of seven groups, plus the two best third-placed teams, will be placed in four groups of four teams, with teams playing each other once, after which the top two from each group will progress to the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, main sponsors SportsMax, Digicel, KFC and Wisynco, all expressed delight at being back on board and promised to do their part to ensure the season lives up to its billing. 

Other sponsors include Powerade, Tru Shake, Pringles, Soccer Xpress, Kirk-FP Limited, and Main Event.

The Manning and daCosta Cup competitions can be seen live on SportsMax, SportsMax App and SportsMax YouTube channel.

McGrath High became the fourth school to win the ISSA/Wata Ben Francis knockout title since the change in format, as they edged Frome Technical 1-0 in a lively final at the National Stadium on Saturday.

Dante Anderson's 32nd-minute strike was enough to get the Linstead-based team over the line, and saw them join Charlemont, BB Coke and Edwin Allen as first-time champions.

Winning coach Jermaine Thomas was over the moon about his team’s accomplishment.

"I am happy and elated because we worked really hard for this. I also want to take time out to say rest in peace to Gibbs “Gibbo” Williams, he was an important part of my life and the reason why I went to college, so I wish he was here to witness this moment,” Thomas said.

“But congrats to the boys, they played well, we have been playing well all season, the last game we lost was to Christiana in the Round of 16, and we haven’t lost since then. So, I must commend the boys and the entire school community for the support,” he added.

It was a closely contested affair in which both teams threatened in open play and had their fair share of opportunities to break the deadlock.

McGrath went closest in the 32^nd when a well-taken David Hutchinson freekick, was equally well-saved by Oral Davis diving full stretch to his right, in Frome Technical’s goal.

Frome responded soon after but Dwayne Watt’s shot from close range, was parried by Joel Davis, in goal for McGrath, as they remained scoreless at the break.

However, McGrath eventually found what turned out to be the match-winning goal five minutes into the resumption when Devone Davis picked up possession and played a pass off to Anderson, who applied a tidy finish, beating Oral Davis at his near post.

It was end-to-end action from there with McGrath looking to add to their tally, while Frome Technical pressed for the elusive equaliser. In fact, the Westmoreland-based team showed more in the attacking third in the latter stages, as they used the wide channels to good effect to provide services inside the danger area.

The tactic almost bore fruit in 74^th when Akeem Kongal’s weighted cross was met by Jamaro Grant, who rose above defenders, but the effort was brilliantly cleared off the line by defender Isaac Mason to keep his team’s lead intact, and they saw off Frome from there.

Frome Technical’s Head coach Cleighton Stevens was gracious in defeat.

"First I have to say congratulations to McGrath on their victory, my boys put up a good fight, but it just wasn't our day. It was still a successful season and we just have to build on it going forward,” he said. 

Clarendon College became the fourth and final team to advance to the semi-finals of the 2021 DaCosta Cup football competition on Tuesday after recording a 3-1 win over McGrath High at St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) to finish with a perfect nine points from their three games in Zone 4.

Both DaCosta Cup semi-finals will be played at 3:00 pm on January 12 with Dinthill Technical taking on Mannings High School at the Montego Bay Sports Complex while Garvey Maceo will do battle with Clarendon College at STETHS.

Meanwhile, Manchester High beat Cornwall College 2-1 at Green Pond in Tuesday’s other Zone 4 encounter to finish second in the zone with six points and advance to the Ben Francis Cup Knockout.

Manchester High and Cornwall College join Edwin Allen, Christiana High, Munro College, Vere Technical, STETHS and Frome Technical in the Ben Francis Cup.

Kingston College is now the only team in schoolboy football this season to have a 100 per cent win record after beating Kingston Technical 3-0 for their second straight win as quarterfinal-round action in Manning Cup on Wednesday.

KC now leads Group 2 with six points from their two games.

Trailing Kingston College with three points from two games is Excelsior High School, which suffered a 2-1 defeat to Charlie Smith High that was getting their first win of the round.

Kingston Technical have yet to register a point after losing their first two games.

In Group 1 play on Tuesday, defending champions Jamaica College became the first team to advance to the semi-finals with a hard-fought 5-3 triumph over ST Andrew Technical High School (STATHS).

JC remains atop of the group with six points from their two games ahead of STATHS on three and Mona, also on three, after their crucial 2-0 win over St. Catherine High.

STATHS and Mona will do battle to see who joins JC in the semis.

Over in the DaCosta Cup, Dinthill Technical and Edwin Allen both got wins in Zone 1 action on Tuesday to set up a winner-take-all game to decide which of the two will advance to the semi-finals.

Dinthill defeated William Knibb 3-0 while Edwin Allen comfortably got by Christiana High 4-0 in a double-header at Manchester High.

Dinthill and Edwin Allen now both have six points from two matches with Dinthill currently ahead with a goal difference of 7 to 6 for Edwin Allen.

Mannings got their second win in Zone 2 with a 6-0 thrashing of Happy Grove at Drax Hall to remain atop the zone with six points from two games, two points ahead of Munro College, which outscored Vere Technical 4-3 and now have four points.

Happy Grove currently sits third with one point while Vere is fourth with none.

This is another scenario where the winner of the match between Mannings and Munro will advance to the semi-finals.

On Wednesday, Garvey Maceo and St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) played to a 2-2 draw at Kirkvine while Frome hammered St. Thomas Technical 9-2 at Drax Hall in Zone 3 action.

This was Garvey Maceo’s first draw this season after winning their first eight matches.

STETHS and Garvey Maceo both have four points after two games with STETHS leading the zone on goal-difference of five against two for Garvey Maceo.

Frome is third with three points and St. Thomas Technical are fourth with none.

STETHS will play Frome in their final match while Garvey Maceo will play St. Thomas Technical.

At Manchester High, Clarendon College got a 2-0 win over Manchester to get their second straight win in Zone 4 and move to six points.

 The two teams that only got into the quarterfinal round of the Manning cup because Camperdown High and Tivoli Gardens were disqualified, won their opening matches of the Manning Cup quarter-finals.

Excelsior and STATHS had originally finished third and fourth in Group B of the Manning Cup preliminary round but advanced after Camperdown and Tivoli were disqualified from the tournament for using ineligible players.

STATHS won their Group 1 opener 4-1 over St. Catherine High on Friday while Excelsior High beat Kingston Technical 3-1 in their Group 2 opener on Saturday.

Jamaica College beat Mona High 2-0 in the other Group 1 match on Friday and Kingston College got by Charlie Smith 3-0 in the other Group 2 match on Saturday.

The quarter-final round of the DaCosta Cup also got underway on Saturday with Dinthill Technical blanking Christiana High 4-0. Meanwhile, Edwin Allen beat William Knibb 2-0 in the second Zone 1 game on the day.

Mannings were the only Zone 2 winners Saturday, beating Vere Technical 3-2.

Munro College, which have struggled for form played to a 1-1 draw with Happy Grove in the other Zone game on the day.

Munro entered that game on the back of two straight losses in their Zone C playoff games against Lacovia and B.B. Coke.

In Zone 3, Garvey Maceo continued their fantastic form this season by beating Frome 2-0 while STETHS easily got past St. Thomas Technical 6-1.

Elsewhere, defending champions Clarendon College and Manchester High got wins in Zone 4 action.

Clarendon College defeated Cornwall College 2-1 while Manchester High ran out 4-0 winners over McGrath High.

Quarterfinal action in both competitions resumes on Tuesday.

The sixteen teams to advance to the quarterfinal round of the DaCosta Cup were confirmed as zone play ended on Tuesday.

The teams will be divided into four groups of four.

Each team will play three matches and the winners of each group will advance to the semi-finals of the competition.

Group 1 will have William Knibb, Dinthill Technical, Christiana High and Edwin Allen.

Mannings, Happy Grove High, Munro College and Vere Technical make up Group 2.

Group 3 will see STETHS, Garvey Maceo, Frome Technical and St. Thomas Technical do battle while Group 4 is made up of Manchester High, Clarendon College, Cornwall College and McGrath High.

Quarterfinal round play in the DaCosta Cup kicks off on Saturday, December 11.

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.

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 2^nd minute, Beeko Smythe in the 21^st minute, and Tadane Williams in the 63^rd 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 11^th 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 46^th minute, and the second coming from a close range left-footed strike in the 76^th 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 54^th minute and Xavier Bruce in the 74^th minute.

Donte Campbell scored a penalty for STETHS in the 83^rd 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.