Clarendon College, Kingston College, STATHS and Jamaica College will contest the semi-finals of the ISSA Champions Cup after securing quarter-final wins when the competition got underway at Sabina Park and STETHS on Saturday.
The first game of the Sabina Park double-header saw defending champions Clarendon College securing a 3-1 win over first-time Super Cup participants Mona High while last year’s beaten finalists Kingston College got a 2-0 win over another first-time participant, Central High, in the second game.
At STETHS, STATHS booked their semi-final spot with a 1-0 win over Manchester High before Jamaica College secured the biggest margin of victory in the quarters, 4-0 over the Manning’s School.
The semi-finals will be played on November 26 at the National Stadium. Jamaica College will take on STATHS before Clarendon College and Kingston College clash in a rematch of last year's final.
Kingston College and Mona High will join Jamaica College and STATHS in the semi-finals of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup after wins in a double-header at Stadium East on Wednesday.
Defending champions Kingston College were first up and followed their 4-0 win over St. Georges College in their first game Saturday with a 5-0 win over Charlie Smith to move to six points from two games.
The second game saw Mona High get their second win in as many games with a 1-0 victory over St. George’s to book their spot in the last four for the first time in the school’s history. KC and Mona will meet on Saturday to determine who will progress as Group A winners while St. George’s College will play Charlie Smith at Jamaica College.
In the Tuesday Group B double-header at the same venue, Jamaica College beat Haile Selassie 2-0 to secure their spot in the last four before STATHS beat Wolmer’s Boys 1-0 to also advance. JC and STATHS will meet on Friday at Stadium East to determine the winners of Group B while Wolmer’s will tackle Haile Selassie at Jamaica College.
Newly crowned ISSA Under-16 champions St Andrew Technical (STATHS) have dedicated their victory to slain Manning Cup forward Omar Laing.
On Thursday, STATHS claimed their first football trophy in over three decades following a 2-1 triumph over the previously unbeaten Kingston College. In fact, prior to the shock loss in the final, the North Street-based team had failed to concede a goal all season.
A brilliant Delaney Whyte free-kick blotted that copybook and gave STATHS the lead in the 25th minute. After missing several presentable opportunities, in the first half, Kingston College did manage to pull back on level terms when Dujuan Richards scored soon after the resumption. However, an own goal in the 54th from Anthony Ricketts sent the Purples crashing to a surprise defeat.
Laing, the leading scorer for the school’s Manning Cup team last season, was killed in a drive-by shooting incident in downtown Kingston last week. His younger brother is currently a part of the triumphant Under-16 squad.
18-year-old Omar Laing a standout player for St Andrew Technical (STATHS) during last season’s Manning Cup was shot and killed in a drive-by incident in West Kingston on Friday.
According to reports, Laing was celebrating his 18th birthday in the vicinity of Charles Street when he was struck by gunfire from a passing vehicle.
Playing as a forward, Laing was the leading scorer for the team in the Manning Cup last season, a member of local Premier League club Cavalier and was also called up to Jamaica’s youth national team.
Defending champions Jamaica College will have to defeat rivals Kingston College if they want to retain their ISSA Manning Cup title after both secured semi-final wins at Stadium East today.
In the first semi-final, Jamaica College secured a comfortable 3-0 win over Charlie Smith.
JC took the lead through a clinical left-footed strike from Dwight Merrick in the 36th minute after a brilliant bit of work from Tarick Ximines to set him up.
Ximines then got a goal of his own to double their lead in the 67th minute and the scoring was completed by substitute Giovanni Mitto in the 92nd minute.
Kingston College came from behind twice to secure a 4-2 win over St. Andrew Technical in the second semi-final.
STATHS took advantage of a defensive mistake by KC and took the lead in the sixth minute through captain Omar Reid.
Their lead didn’t last long as KC equalized in the 11th minute through a right-footed strike from Jaheim Johnson.
A second defensive error by KC allowed Omar Laing to restore the lead for STATHS in the 21st minute.
KC began the second half with sustained pressure and it paid off when Ronardo Burgher made it 2-2 with a clinical header in the 60th minute.
They took the lead for the first time in the 69th minute when substitute Louis Watson headed home from a brilliant cross from captain Jemone Barclay to make it 3-2.
Christopher Pearson got a fourth goal with a magnificent free kick in the 74th minute to complete the scoring for KC and secure a 4-2 win and a spot in the final.
Jamaica College will be looking for their 31st hold on the Manning Cup title while Kingston College will be looking for their 16th in the final, which will be played on Saturday, January 22.
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.
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.
Camperdown and Tivoli Gardens High have both been removed from the remainder of the Manning Cup after it was found that they both used ineligible players.
As both teams were in Group B, they will be replaced in the quarterfinal round by the third and fourth-placed teams from the group, Excelsior High and STATHS.
The new list of teams advancing to the quarterfinal round now reads: Jamaica College, Kingston Technical, Excelsior High, STATHS, Kingston College, Mona High, Charlie Smith, and St. Catherine High.
JC, Mona, STATHS, and St, Catherine High will be in Group 1 while KC, Excelsior, Charlie Smith, and Kingston Tech will be in Group 2.
Each team will play each other once and the top two teams from each group will advance to the semi-finals.
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.
In daCosta Cup action on Saturday, William Knibb stayed perfect with a 5-0 win over Maldon, at home, for their fifth win in as many games.
The first game of the day at William Knibb featured Holland High and Herbert Morrison playing out a 1-1 draw.
In the other Zone A games, at Irwin High, Cornwall College got a 2-0 win over Spot Valley and Irwin beat St. James High 3-0.
William Knibb leads Zone A with 15 points followed by Cornwall College with 10 and Herbert Morrison with nine. Each team in Zone A has two matches left.
Munro College confirmed their place in the next round as Zone C winners with a 1-0 win over B.B. Coke in the first game of a doubleheader at STETHS.
The second game at STETHS saw Lacovia and Maggotty draw 2-2.
Munro will be joined in the next round by STETHS who got a 4-0 win over Mt. St. Joseph, at Kirkvine, to finish second in the zone with 10 points.
Holmwood Technical beat DeCarteret College 4-0, at Manchester High, to move to fourth in Zone D on seven points, three behind Manchester and Christiana and one behind Bellefield.
Defending champions, Clarendon College, are out of the competition as Lennon High and Edwin Allen advanced from Zone E.
Lennon topped the zone with 11 points and Edwin Allen finished second with 10, beating out Clarendon College on goal difference.
Lennon and Edwin Allen played out a 0-0 draw at Turners Field, meaning a draw would’ve been enough for Clarendon College to advance alongside Lennon.
That didn’t happen, however, as they were beaten 1-0 by Glenmuir, at Glenmuir, ending their hopes of defending their title.
Denbigh beat Claude McKay 5-1 in the other Zone E game on the day.
St. Thomas Technical and Happy Grove advanced from Zone G.
St. Thomas Technical finished as zone winners with eight points and Happy Grove finished second with five points after a 6-2 win over Port Antonio High at Lynch Park.
Happy Grove finished with the same number of points and same goal difference as Paul Bogle High but finished ahead of them on goals scored with six compared to four.
Paul Bogle drew 1-1 with Seaforth, at York Oval, in the other zone game today.
In Zone H, Ocho Rios High and Dinthill Technical both scored 3-0 wins over York Castle High and Charlemont respectively in a doubleheader at Drax Hall.
Dinthill moved to 13 points to strengthen their zone lead, while Ocho Rios and Charlemont are second and third with eight points each.
Manning Cup
In Group B Manning Cup action, Tivoli beat Dunoon Technical 4-2 and Excelsior and STATHS played out a 3-3 draw in a doubleheader at Stadium East.
At the Spanish Town Prison Oval, St. Jago secured a 1-0 win over Jose Marti while Camperdown beat Jonathan Grant 1-0.
Camperdown remain perfect at the top of Group B with 15 points with Tivoli second on 10 and Excelsior third on eight.
In Group C, St. Catherine High beat Papine 3-0 in a 3:00pm game at Jamaica College.
The win moves St. Catherine to second in Group C on seven points behind KC with nine and ahead of Mona with four.
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.
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