FORMER champions St James High and last year’s surprise package Green Pond High will meet in one of three games during the official opening of the 2014 ISSA/Lime daCosta Cup schoolboys’ football competition at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on September 6, the Observer West has learned.

Three games are scheduled to be played at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on the day, with the daCosta Cup and Manning Cup champions also starting the defence of their titles.

George Forbes, competitions secretary of ISSA told the Observer West on

Tuesday that they were to confirm the games for the official opening, but said the game between the two St James rivals could be part of the festivities.

Meanwhile, Holland High has withdrawn from the competition, leaving just four schools in Zone C — Herbert Morrison, Muschett High, Spot Valley and William Knibb Memorial.

Holland finished with one point last year, a 0-0 draw against Spot Valley High in their opening game, after winning three games the previous year.

On September 6, Manning Cup champions Jamaica College will play Jonathon Grant High, while daCosta Cup champions St Elizabeth Technical will face BB Coke in the first two games.

Additionally, Forbes said a full slate of daCosta Cup games will be played on the opening day — a first since ISSA started playing opening games to kick off the competitions.

Some 27 games are expected to be played in the daCosta Cup competition on the opening day, it is understood.

“With the packed fixtures we have to get through before early December, we don’t have the luxury of wasting any playing dates,” Forbes said.

ISSA had announced earlier the playing of a new competition, the Lime Super Cup that will see the top eight teams in the daCosta Cup and Manning Cup competitions playing for a $1 million first prize. Additionally, Forbes said ISSA is contemplating bringing back the AlldaCosta vs All-Manning game at the end of the season.

Meanwhile, Green Pond High, which shocked Zone A last year, winning the zone for the first time, will seek to continue their winning run over St James High.

Green Pond won both games against St James High last year, which included a come-from-behind win 4-3 in their second-round game to clinch a place in the Ben Francis KO.

Prior to last year, Green Pond had beaten St James High just once, 4-3 in the 2010 season, in 10 previous games.

Up to the 4-3 win, St James High won the daCosta Cup/Ben Francis KO double in 2008, and Green Pond’s first season in the competition had outscored Green Pond 19-0 in five games.