MONTEGO BAY, St James — First-time qualifiers Muschett High and former champions Frome Technical High, who had advanced as one of the best third-placed teams, are among the surprise qualifiers for the quarter-finals of the ISSA/LIME daCosta Cup schoolboy football competition after yesterday’s dramatic final round of the Inter-zone round.

At least 15 schools went into the final set of games with hopes of advancing, but with just the winner of each of the eight zones advancing, it took tiebreakers to decide at least two of the qualifiers.

Muschett High and Frome Technical both won their zones on the second tie breaker after finishing tied with at least one other school on points and goal difference. Muschett won Zone Two by edging former champions St James High after both schools finished on the same number of points and goal difference, while Frome Technical continued their run after winning Zone Seven by the slimmest of margins ahead of Paul Bogle High and last year’s winners Glenmuir High, after all three finished on six points each.

It was also close going in three other zones where the qualifiers advanced after beating the second-placed team by one point.

The zone winners who will advance to the quarter-finals that start on Saturday are Green Island High, Muschett High, Ben Francis Knockout champions St Elizabeth Technical, Manchester High, Marcus Garvey Technical, Port Antonio High, Frome Technical and Garvey Maceo.

Muschett High, who are being coached by Pastor Hugh Solomon who had led St James High to four straight semi-finals and the double in 2008, beat Rusea’s High 2-1 at Jarrett Park to finish on seven points, the same number earned by St James High who edged Godfrey Stewart High 1-0 at Frome. Both schools had a goal difference of two.

The Trelawny school that qualified for the Inter-zone round for the first time ever, however, had scored one more goal than St James High — five to four to get the nod.

Nickoy Anderson scored once in either half for Muschett, while Donovan McKenzie had drawn the winless Rusea’s level at half-time.

Frome Technical, a semi-final qualifier last year but were handed a lifeline after finishing third in Zone B in the first round, took the qualifying spot from Zone Seven on goal difference after three schools finished tied on six points, including Glenmuir High and Paul Bogle High.The Westmoreland school, who beat Paul Bogle High 2-1 yesterday, however, finished with a goal difference of four, the same as Paul Bogle. But their eight goals score, including five against Vere Technical, gave them the edge over Glenmuir who scored six goals, including four against Vere yesterday.

Green Island High advanced to the last-eight for the first time in 17 years, but only after a bizarre 5-4 win over out-of-contention Green Pond at Jarrett Park.

Leaton Galloway and Shane Sterling scored two goals each for Green Island, including one in time added on for stoppages as two mistakes by the Hanover school almost cost them a place in the top eight.

Green Pond went 2-0 up after six minutes through Kashief Brown and Romaine Lewis, but Green Island came back to lead 3-2 at half-time with goals from Sterling in the 23rd minute, Leaton Galloway in the 40th and 15 year-old Linford Galloway in the 41st.

A mistake by the Green Island goalkeeper Junior Robinson two minutes into the second half allowed Green Pond to level the scores at 3-3 after he misplayed a ball from Green Pond’s Jerome Haughton and the ball rolled over his boots and into the goal.

Leaton Galloway then produced an individual bit of magic in the 73rd minute, dribbling from his own half and beating three defenders before powering the ball into the Green Pond goal to bring his team level once more. But a needless foul in his own penalty area in the 86th minute led to Robinson scoring to make the scores 4-4.

Green Island finally got the winner in time added on when the Green Pond goalkeeper and defenders failed to get the ball out of their penalty area and Sterling punched it across the line.

At the Trelawny Multipurpose Stadium, Grange Hill beat 10-man William Knibb Memorial 3-1, but finished with six points, just one short.