Rusea’s book Inter-zone berth
GREEN ISLAND, Hanover — Despite having to come from behind to earn a point in a 1-1 draw at Green Island High, two-time defending champions Rusea’s High led four more schools into the Inter-zone round of the ISSA/Gatorade/Digicel daCosta Cup schoolboys’ football competition yesterday.
The draw eliminated Green Island from consideration for the two automatic spots from Zone B and saw Frome Technical (16 points) who are now in pole position for the Ben Francis KO spot and Rusea’s on 15 points advancing.
Munro College, who eliminated Black River after beating them 2-0 in Zone E and Seaforth High in Zone O who are advancing past the first round for the first time in at least seven years, also booked their spots.
Munro joined St Elizabeth Technical in the Inter-zone as STETHS stayed in front with a 5-0 romp over Lacovia.
Seaforth confirmed second place in their zone after a 3-0 win over Robert Lightbourne as leaders Paul Bogle High whipped Yallahs 8-0 with national junior representative Alvas Powell scoring five times.
Also three schools booked Ben Francis Knockout places — Cedric Titus High, St Mary Technical and Port Antonio High all won their zones.
Cedric Titus won Zone I after beating Brown’s Town High 2-0 to leave three schools battling for the other automatic spot
York Castle moved into second place on goal difference over Marcus Garvey with a 4-1 win over Ocho Rios, while Brown’s Town are still in with a chance of moving on.
St Mary Technical confirmed their spot from Zone J by beating Iona High 3-1, while Port Antonio High won Zone L after beating fair Prospect 2-1.
Newcomers Holland High kept their hopes of advancing alive after an upset 1-0 win over Muschett High in Zone C and set up a winner-take-all game against Spot Valley High on Saturday.
Spot Valley snapped a four-game winless streak with a 4-1 thrashing of Hopewell High to move to 13 points, three more than Holland.