MARTHA BRAE, TRELAWNY — William Knibb and Spalding High are the first qualifiers for the Ben Francis KO after winning their respective zones of the ISSA/Gatorade/Digicel daCosta Cup yesterday.

William Knibb blanked Hopewell, 3-0, to win Zone C and return to the KO for the first time in five years, while Spalding were 6-0 winners over Alston in Zone G to return to the Ben Francis for the first time in three seasons after failing to get past the first round last year.

Four other schools, Cornwall College, Marcus Garvey, Glenmuir and Paul Bogle all secured Inter-zone round berths while Frome Technical and Cedric Titus inched within a point of their places.

At Martha Brae, the Garfield Anderson-coached William Knibb got goals from Shadwayne Williams, Taran Tyrell and Junior Morgan for their fourth straight win to move to 17 points.

Muschett extended Spot Valley's winless run to four straight games, edging them 1-0 at Spot Valley as the two tussle for the second spot.

Denzil McPherson scored a hat-trick to lead Spalding to a big win and extend their winning streak to eight straight games. Lawrence Stone, Andrew Gallimore and Andre Morrison were also scorers for Spalding.

Meanwhile Munro College handed St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) their first defeat of the season, beating them 2-1 to avenge a first-round loss by the same margin.

Oshane Huffey and Mark Parchmen scored for Munro, who are a win away from an Inter-Zone berth.

Akeem McCarthy scored a second-half goal for Cornwall as they edged Green Island, 1-0, to extend their lead in Zone A to 10 points, three more than St James High.

Garvey Maceo blanked Foga Road, 4-0, and Glenmuir beat Denbigh, 4-2, to sew up both places from Zone M.

National Under-20 player Alvas Powell scored twice for Paul Bogle to beat St Thomas Technical, 2-1, and conceded their first goal of the season in their eighth game.

Frome Technical held champions Rusea's 1-1 to stay ahead in Zone B, while Cedric Titus were 1-0 winners over York Castle to stay atop Zone I.