FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida — At press time last evening with games ongoing, Dinthill Technical High School, Cornwall College and Glenmuir High were the early qualifiers to the next phase of the Jamaica High Schools Alumni Sports Network (JHSASN) football competition at the Lauderhill Sports Complex.

On a hot and sometimes wet South Florida Sunday, Dinthill — the St Catherine newcomers — secured their spot with a shock 1-0 win over defending champions Herbert Morrison of Montego Bay in the mid-morning kick-off, and returned later in the searing afternoon sun to draw 0-0 with Kingston College in Zone A action.

Dinthill coach, Livingston Beckford, said his team’s upset win over champions Herbert Morrison was the result of “a positive approach to the game”.

“We came here to play positively, and that’s what we did… the guys came out and played some good football. Come tomorrow (today), we will come back with positive approach play, and it is our intention to go all the way as we have the experience and quality in our team to achieve that goal,” he said.

An awesome-looking Glenmuir out of Clarendon had two victories, blowing away St Mary’s College 4-1, following up on their 1-0 win over Tivoli Gardens High in Zone B.

In other results at press time, in Zone A Marcus Garvey and Kingston College drew 0-0. In Zone B, St Mary’s College defeated Meadowbrook 1-0, but the latter rallied to edge Tivoli 1-0.

In Zone C, many-time winners Cornwall College were comfortable 2-0 winners over Ferncourt and Calabar, while Mannings School blew away the Red Hills Road-based school  4-0.

In a diminished Zone D, Rusea’s edged Wolmer’s Boys’ 1-0. The group has been affected by the no-show of St Mary High, which means that STETHS and the other teams in the zones will earn walkovers.

The Jamaican Diaspora alumni schools are playing for the National Weekly Trophy, sponsored by the South Florida-based newspaper.

Director of the state-wide circulated publication, Hugh Ferguson, said his company is proud of the growth of the annual football festival, which is in its sixth year.

“This is bringing the Jamaican community together and everyone here (living in the USA) belonged to some high school or another, so when the organisation (JHSASN) approached we were more than happy to come on board as sponsor,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

“We are proud to see that the competition has grown over the years,” Ferguson added.

Along with the trophy, the victors will walk away with US$2,000 (J$230,000).

Other key sponsors of the event are Jamaica National, Irie FM, Goldson Spine, RHR TV, Starz FC, Energy Radio, City Lauderhill, Empire Management and Florida Netball Association.

For the first time, the two-day event, which concludes today, is free to patrons and JHSASN president Lavern Deer explains why.

“This is something that we should have done a long time ago. People have always wanted to come and to just show their support by spending their money inside the venue, so we removed the entry charge.

“Remember it’s a charity event, so we have to do whatever we have to do to make this a family affair. After all, this is about the family, the diaspora family,” she said.

The action continues today, the American Labour Day, where teams advancing to the second-phase will look to get into the knockout phases and eventually to the championship match.

As this newspaper prepared for press, the netball competition among high school alumni was in high gear, and they too will come back today to take care of business on what forecasters say will be a fine day for the outdoors, as American celebrate one of their biggest holidays.

— Sean Williams