MONTEGO BAY, St James – Manchester High School created school history by qualifying for their first ever ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup finals after beating outgoing champions St James High 3-0 on penalty kicks in their semi-final at Jarrett Park yesterday.

Manchester’s goalkeeper Michael Parcells, who had little to do for the previous 110 minutes, was the hero as he saved two penalties to give his team a deserved victory as all three kickers scored from the spot.

Manchester’s win set up an unlikely final next week after St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) surprised Garvey Maceo, 3-1, in Santa Cruz for their first final in 10 years.

Garvey Maceo and St James went into yesterday’s matches as favourites based on form, but failed to deliver when it mattered most.

Yesterday, Manchester’s veteran coach Baron Watson was at a loss for words after the win, but told the Sunday Observer, “I feel good, especially for the boys, as they worked hard all season and they really deserved it.”

The 20-year veteran at the schoolboy level conceded that his players may have been intimidated by playing at Jarrett Park.

“The guys came under pressure having to come to play a game like this at Jarrett Park,” Watson said, intimating that that was the reason they failed to capitalise despite their superior possession.

Pastor Hugh Solomon, the coach of the St James, lamented his players missing all three penalty kicks.

“They did not look purposeful in the penalty kicks… we were practising all evening Thursday at training and though they should have done much better here today, they just did not do well.”

St James were also let down by the lack of depth on their bench as despite a number of players limping from as early as the first half, they made just two changes.

Both coaches sought to restrict the effectiveness of the other team’s most dangerous striker as Manchester’s Orlando Platt close-marked St James dangerman Allan Ottey, while at the other end, Manchester’s Jason Johnson was kept under tight reigns by St James defender John Barrett.

Urged on by a vocal crowd that drowned out the St James supporters, Manchester soaked up the early pressure and took over the game from about the 20th minute and pushed St James back into their own half for long periods.

Despite this, they failed to force a save from Evertett Nunes in the St James goal as it was the Montego Bay school that got the two best chances of the first half.

Roshane Reid turned and shot left-footed just wide of the far left post early on, while a long-range shot from midfielder Alwayne Barrett curled just left of the goal post.

Manchester came close to scoring in the 60th minute, but after beating two defenders, Johnson powered the ball into the side of the netting.

St James’ Ricardo Morris had the best chance of the game in the 72nd when he finished off a brilliant combination, taking a pass from Ottey on the left and with only goalkeeper Parcells to beat, placed the ball inches wide of the left post.

Manchester had a chance to win it in the first period of extra time, but the unmarked Dahair Dyer, who replaced Junior Neil in the 67th minute, hit the ball into the ground after he was picked out by a ball swung from the right side.

In the shoot-out, Oral Johnson, Shenaldo Parkes and Remawn Thomas all scored, while Reid, Ottey and Jason Malcolm missed.