MONTEGO BAY, St James — Green Pond High will face their biggest test of the season when they take on Manchester High in one semi-final of the ISSA/LIME Ben Francis Knockout tomorrow.

While the Manchester High team will present them with their biggest challenge on the field, the first-time qualifiers will travel out of western Jamaica for the first time ever to play a competitive football game and outside of St James for the first time in two years.

Green Pond and Manchester High will face off at the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex in Santa Cruz, while in the other semi-final, three-time defending champions St Elizabeth Technical and Paul Bogle will meet at the Juici Patties Stadium in May Pen.

Tomorrow’s winners will advance to Saturday’s final, and according to ISSA’s competition co-ordinator George Forbes, they are still hoping it will be played in Montego Bay at either Jarrett Park or the Montego Bay Sports Complex. However, if they are not successful the final could be played in Santa Cruz, Forbes indicated to the Jamaica Observer.

With the staging of the CONCACAF Girls Under-17 finals in Montego Bay set to start next week, the preferred venues in Montego Bay have been closed down for last-minute work to get them up to scratch for the World Cup qualifying tournament.

The furthest Green Pond have ever travelled for a competitive Under-1 9 football game were to neighbouring Trelawny when they played against both William Knibb Memorial and Muschett High.

Manchester High, on the other hand, are into their fourth straight Ben Francis semi-finals and the players are accustomed to travelling away from their region for games.

Green Pond have played both knockout games in the friendly confines of Jarrett Park, beating William Knibb 4-1 and Godfrey Stewart 2-0.

Manchester High are coming off a 1-0 win over fancied Clarendon College on Saturday after beating Christiana by the same margin in the previous round.

The other semi-final will pit two schools experienced at this level, three-time defending champions STETHS and their record

10-match win streak against five-time semi-finalists Paul Bogle High.

…Manchester coach says Clarendon College win a boost

Sheldon Davis, the Manchester High head coach, said beating Clarendon College in Saturday’s Ben Francis Cup quarter-final gave him a clear indication of what his team can achieve in this season’s schoolboy football competitions.

The Mandeville-based school turned, perhaps, one of their most disciplined performances in many years to clip the high-flying Clarendon College 1-0 at the Kirkvine Sport Club in Manchester.

“We saw the game as a major test,” said Davis. “Because we finished the preliminary round on top of our zone with about two or three games to go, we knew playing against the likes of Christiana High, then a high quality Clarendon College team in the Ben Francis Cup, would be a huge challenge. But, I am pleased with how the players responded.”

“The season started a bit shaky,” he added, “but going forward we started to improve. What is working for us is the fact that we have a nice little rotation going. Anybody who comes in for us on a given day does his bit to enhance the performance. That is important for us because it means we have depth, not just a core group.”

In the broader context of the season, the victory over Clarendon College was worth more than a place in the Knockout semis. It was also a psychological triumph, considering that both teams will meet again in the first game of a tough daCosta Cup Inter-Zone group that also features Munro College and Spalding High.

To many, the winner of this pool, dubbed the “group of death”, could very well go on to win the daCosta Cup.

Davis also shares that belief. “Definitely,” he responded.

“Once we can get out of this round, we should be looking good because this is basically a group of death with four quality teams. It is going to be rough. Each game is going to be like a knockout for us, a must win.”

For now, though, the coach has eyes only for the Ben Francis Cup, starting with what is expected to be a mouthwatering semi-final date against Green Pond, who, along with Holy Trinity High of the Manning Cup, have so far been the revelations of the season.

“The focus is definitely on the title because we are looking to better last year,” Davis told the Observer.

“But we are not looking past the semi-finals because last year we were knocked at this stage.

“We have been biting at the cherry, both the Ben Francis and daCosta Cup, for a while now. This season we believe we have a good unit that can bring us all the way. We have learnt from our mistakes, so we are just going to take it one step at a time.”