MONTEGO BAY, St James – Defending champions St James High beat former champions Frome Technical, 3-1, at Jarrett Park to lead the qualifiers into the semi-finals of the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup schoolboy football competition as the quarter-final round ended yesterday.

The Hugh Solomon-coached team is the only school from the top four last season to remain in contention for the title.

Spurred by two goals from Roshane Reid, St James scraped their way to a lacklustre win over Frome to win Group One with seven points, while St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) upset Ben Francis KO champions Glenmuir, 2-0, to snatch second place and advance to the semi-finals for the first time in 10 years.

Garvey Maceo earned a come-from-behind 1-1 draw against last season’s beaten finalists Spalding High to top Group Two with seven points and were joined by Manchester who rallied to a 2-1 win over Marcus Garvey at Prison Oval.

Next Saturday’s semi-finals will pit St James versus Manchester at Jarrett Park and Garvey Maceo versus STETHS at Santa Cruz.

At Santa Cruz, STETHS created the upset of the round when Deshorn Brown scored twice, once in either half, to join Garvey Maceo’s Kenroy Thomas as the top scorers on seven goals.

STETHS repeated their heroics of the Inter-zone round when they went into the final game with their backs to the wall, needing to win against arguably the best team in the competition, and duly obliged for second-year coach Andrew Edwards.

At Jarrett Park, St James looked lethargic and were outplayed for long periods by a Frome team that had conceded six goals in their previous game.

fter being blocked by goalkeeper Taric Ackbersingh – who was making his first appearance of the season – in the 10th minute, Reid put the champions ahead two minutes later when he tapped home a cross from Cion Peterkin from less than two yards.

Peterkin was sent through from a back-heeled pass from Allan Ottey and powered his way past three defenders to the touchline before sending the ball low and hard across the face of the goal.

Frome drew level in the 21st minute, however, when Inique Findley pounced on a rebound from St James goalkeeper Everett Nunes and left-footed it back into the goal, snapping St James’ 262 minutes without conceding.

The last time prior to Findley’s goal that St James conceded a goal was in their Inter-zone game against William Knibb which they won 4-1.

After giving up territorial advantage to Frome for long periods, St James took the lead again in the 40th minute when Paul Beswick needlessly handled the ball in his area and Jason Marshall, who had replaced Alwayne Barrett two minutes earlier, converted.

Frome came out the better team in the second half and should have drawn level again, but Findley hit the left upright with a penalty kick in the 63rd after Kenroy Grant handled the ball inside the box.

Frome’s Navol James had a scoring chance in the 72nd, but kicked the ball into the chest of Nunez and seven minutes later, Findley’s diving header was knocked down by the goalkeeper and eventually cleared by a defender.

Reid put the game away in the 85th when his shot from just on the top of the box slipped through the legs of the goalkeeper and into the goal.

Yesterday’s Results: St James 3 Frome 1; STETHS 2 Glenmuir 0; Marcus Garvey 1 Manchester 2; Spalding 1 Garvey Maceo 1.