Muschett, Frome surprise teams to D'Cup quarter-finals
PAUL A REID Observer writer
Friday, November 08, 2013
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MONTEGO BAY, St James — First-time qualifiers Muschett High and former champions Frome Technical High, who had advanced as one of the best third-placed teams, are among the surprise qualifiers for the quarter-finals of the ISSA/LIME daCosta Cup schoolboy football competition after yesterday's dramatic final round of the Inter-zone round.
At least 15 schools went into the final set of games with hopes of advancing, but with just the winner of each of the eight zones advancing, it took tiebreakers to decide at least two of the qualifiers.
Muschett High and Frome Technical both won their zones on the second tie breaker after finishing tied with at least one other school on points and goal difference. Muschett won Zone Two by edging former champions St James High after both schools finished on the same number of points and goal difference, while Frome Technical continued their run after winning Zone Seven by the slimmest of margins ahead of Paul Bogle High and last year's winners Glenmuir High, after all three finished on six points each.
It was also close going in three other zones where the qualifiers advanced after beating the second-placed team by one point.
The zone winners who will advance to the quarter-finals that start on Saturday are Green Island High, Muschett High, Ben Francis Knockout champions St Elizabeth Technical, Manchester High, Marcus Garvey Technical, Port Antonio High, Frome Technical and Garvey Maceo.
Muschett High, who are being coached by Pastor Hugh Solomon who had led St James High to four straight semi-finals and the double in 2008, beat Rusea's High 2-1 at Jarrett Park to finish on seven points, the same number earned by St James High who edged Godfrey Stewart High 1-0 at Frome. Both schools had a goal difference of two.
The Trelawny school that qualified for the Inter-zone round for the first time ever, however, had scored one more goal than St James High — five to four to get the nod.
Nickoy Anderson scored once in either half for Muschett, while Donovan McKenzie had drawn the winless Rusea's level at half-time.
Frome Technical, a semi-final qualifier last year but were handed a lifeline after finishing third in Zone B in the first round, took the qualifying spot from Zone Seven on goal difference after three schools finished tied on six points, including Glenmuir High and Paul Bogle High.The Westmoreland school, who beat Paul Bogle High 2-1 yesterday, however, finished with a goal difference of four, the same as Paul Bogle. But their eight goals score, including five against Vere Technical, gave them the edge over Glenmuir who scored six goals, including four against Vere yesterday.
Green Island High advanced to the last-eight for the first time in 17 years, but only after a bizarre 5-4 win over out-of-contention Green Pond at Jarrett Park.
Leaton Galloway and Shane Sterling scored two goals each for Green Island, including one in time added on for stoppages as two mistakes by the Hanover school almost cost them a place in the top eight.
Green Pond went 2-0 up after six minutes through Kashief Brown and Romaine Lewis, but Green Island came back to lead 3-2 at half-time with goals from Sterling in the 23rd minute, Leaton Galloway in the 40th and 15 year-old Linford Galloway in the 41st.
A mistake by the Green Island goalkeeper Junior Robinson two minutes into the second half allowed Green Pond to level the scores at 3-3 after he misplayed a ball from Green Pond's Jerome Haughton and the ball rolled over his boots and into the goal.
Leaton Galloway then produced an individual bit of magic in the 73rd minute, dribbling from his own half and beating three defenders before powering the ball into the Green Pond goal to bring his team level once more. But a needless foul in his own penalty area in the 86th minute led to Robinson scoring to make the scores 4-4.
Green Island finally got the winner in time added on when the Green Pond goalkeeper and defenders failed to get the ball out of their penalty area and Sterling punched it across the line.
At the Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium, Grange Hill beat 10-man William Knibb Memorial 3-1, but finished with six points, just one short.
Read more: jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Muschett--Frome-surprise-teams-to-D-Cup-quarter-finals
DCup quarters kick off today
BY PAUL A REID Observer writer
Saturday, November 09, 2013
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MONTEGO BAY, St James — Ben Francis Cup Knockout finalists St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and Manchester High will start what is expected to be a path to the semi-finals of the ISSA/LIME daCosta Cup football competition when the quarter-finals kick off today with four games.
STETHS and Marcus Garvey Technical, two of three teams that had perfect win records in the Inter-zone round, will face each other at the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex, while Manchester High travel to Montego Bay to face first-time qualifiers Muschett High in the second game of a double header at Jarrett Park.
Green Island and Frome Technical will meet in what should be an interesting game in the first match at Jarrett Park, while Port Antonio, who scored 15 goals in the previous round in their three wins, will face Garvey Maceo at Jamalco.
The eight teams have been placed in two groups of four teams each and the top two from each zone will advance to the semi-finals.
Except for two draws against Munro College in the first round, STETHS have won every other game played and look on course for their first rural area double.
Marcus Garvey will be the next team on the conveyer line, but the St Ann school will come into the game with a solid defensive record of giving up just six goals in 13 games played.
They will, however, face a striker of the calibre of Khesanio Hall for the first time this season and will hope to be the first team to stop the striker, who has scored 28 goals in 13 daCosta Cup games played, netting in every game his team has contested so far this season.
Manchester High will face a Muschett team that while they are new to this level of football, have shown a fighting spirit that has seen them defy the odds so far.
Muschett's coach Hugh Solomon has been there repeatedly with St James High and has quality players in Zidane Francis, Garel Gooden and Nickoy Anderson.
In one of the most unlikely quarter-final match-ups, Frome Technical and Green Island High, who met twice in the first round, could be in the running for a semi-final place this time next week.
Port Antonio are the dark horses in the competition and after sailing through the Inter-zone round, cannot be discounted, especially against a Garvey Maceo team that managed to score just three goals in three Inter-zone games.
Read more: jamaicaobserver.com/sport/DCup-quarters-kick-off-today_15415235#ixzz2k9pFbNBr