MAY PEN, Clarendon — Defending champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) will look to rebound from Tuesday’s bruising defeat to May Day High as the quarter-finals of the ISSA/Digicel Rural Area Junior League tips off today.

STETHS will face Knox College in their quarter-final tie at Clarendon Park, but will have to be in much better form from Tuesday if they are to advance to the semi-finals.

Their opponents, third in last season’s competition, also pulled off a mild upset over last year’s runners-up Denbigh High to top their second-round group on maximum 15 points. However, STETHS have been slightly more explosive than Knox coming into this fixture after averaging just about 30 goals in their five second-round games.

Knox, though, were placed in a theoretically tougher group — comprising Denbigh, Edwin Allen, Yallahs, and Oracabessa — but still managed to pull through unscathed, averaging just about 27 goals in five outings.

While the STETHS-Knox fixture is certainly a must-see, perhaps an even more intense battle in these quarter-finals will be the May Day-Denbigh matchup, also scheduled for the Clarendon Park courts.

Denbigh placed second only to STETHS in the last campaign and, despite the defeat to Knox, are expected by many to figure prominently in the current title race.

The Manchester-based May Day, who retained the majority of last year’s squad, have been showing championship pedigree all season and have since boosted their stock with that defeat of STETHS, which enabled them to top Group Two of the second round with a 100 per cent win record.

Denbigh coach Christine Bartley did mention in a Jamaica Observer interview that her team, who averaged over 30 goals in five second-round games, have the potential to be even more ruthless. Losing to Knox, in a match that they could afford to lose, could therefore give her a clear indication of the improvements that her side need to make. How they respond to this impressive May Day outfit will indicate whether or not the Knox defeat was just a setback or a true reflection of Denbigh’s potential.

Meanwhile, the other quarter-finals will see Holmwood Technical meeting Herbert Morrison Technical at Belmont Academy in Westmoreland, while Manchester High and Glenmuir High do battle at Clarendon Park.

Matches in Clarendon are expected to get under way at 10:00 am, while the Belmont encounter is set to tip off at 9:30 am.