TUCKER, St James —Schools from western Jamaica had a good start to the inaugural Samsung Cup football tournament for primary and preparatory schools at Saturday’s kick off of the competition at the WesPow Park in Tucker.

Bethel Primary of Hanover and Petersfield of Westmorland were tied in the lead in Zone A with six points each; St James Prep of Montego Bay won three games to lead Zone B with nine points, while Holland Primary of Trelawny and Howard Cooke Primary of St James are on six points in Zone D, after games played on Saturday’s opening day, that also saw the official opening ceremony.

May Pen Primary were the leaders in Zone C with 10 points ahead of Mt Alvernia Prep on six points.

Twenty four schools are participating in the competition that is open to players between the age of eight anf 11.

The top two teams from each of the four zones will advance after the series continues on November 23 at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, as the teams aim for the Rural Area finals set for December 7 at the same venue.

The rural Area Champions will meet the Urban Area champions in the national finals set for December 14 at the stadium east field.

National senior team coach Winfried Schafer and former Reggae Boyz captain Ricardo Gardner were among the specially invited guests at Saturday’s kick-off at WesPow Park.