THE Digicel Premier League (DPL) kicked off in earnest with the usual protagonists taking their places atop the standings in a round in which 18 goals were scored — the highest first-round tally since the 2006/2007 season.

The dominant Kingston and St Andrew (KSAFA) Confederation, which has five teams in the Premier League, saw four of them securing wins in defending champions Harbour View, Tivoli Gardens, Waterhouse and Boys’ Town.

The other KSAFA side, Arnett Gardens, led twice but were held to a 2-2 draw by Western Confederation’s Village United of Trelawny.

The only other team outside of the Corporate Area to score an opening-round win was Portmore United from St Catherine, who defeated Reno of Westmoreland 1-0.

The Andrew Price-coached Red Brigade threw down the gauntlet with an impressive 4-2 win over St Georges of Portland in the marquee match-up of the round between last season’s fourth- and fifth-placed teams.

There were braces for Dean Thompson (36th, 63rd) and Anthony Dawes (42nd, 82nd) as the Red Brigade raced to a 4-0 lead.

Dawes, playing at left-back, has so far scored arguably the goal of the season with a stunning 35-metre shot that sailed over goalkeeper Randal Huie for his first of two long-ranged strikes.

But St Georges salvaged some respectability through Jermaine Taylor’s 84th-minute deflected goal from a free-kick. Substitute Shawn Hunter made it 4-2 three minutes from time.

Boys’ Town, by scoring the biggest margin of victory, seized the early initiative ahead of Tivoli Gardens who whipped newcomers Benfica 3-1 at Drax Hall.

DPL debutant Benfica of St Ann realise they could be in for a tough time after succumbing to a rampant Tivoli Gardens.

Goals by Christopher Jackson (16th), Kaemmar Daley (64th) and Michael Spence (87th) paved the way for an easy TG victory, despite Navion Boyd’s missed penalty.

But Benfica had their own piece of history as Damian James scored very late in the 93rd minute for the club’s first Premier League goal.

Ramja Martin also created history as the first Benfica player to be red-carded in the competition after receiving his marching orders in the 80th.

Meanwhile, champions Harbour View had to battle hard to beat 10-man Humble Lion 1-0 at the Compound.

John-Ross Edwards saw his looping 40-metre free-kick sail over the head of former national goalkeeper Shawn Sawyers for a 1-0 win.

Waterhouse got off to much better start than last year’s disaster — when they lost all four opening games — with a 2-0 win over Sporting Central Academy.

Kemar Thomas and Vincent Earle netted in the 28th and 43rd minutes, respectively, for a good away win at Brancourt.

Portmore United’s new signee Alanzo Adlam proved his worth with a 43rd-minute winner against Reno in muddy conditions at Frome, Westmoreland.

Former three-time champions Arnett Gardens also saw their newly transferred striker Kirk Ramsey grabbing a brace in the 33rd and 51st minutes as Arnett led twice before drawing 2-2 with Village.

Troy Smith pulled one back for Village from the spot in the 37th and Fitzroy Campbell earned a share of the points for the Trelawny team four minutes from time.

The league will take a break to accommodate Jamaica’s two international friendlies, against Costa Rica on September 5 and Peru two days later in Fort Lauderdale, Miami.