FORMER champions Denbigh High defeated defending champions Holmwood Technical 40-38 in an exciting Senior League feature as the 2014 Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Rural High School competition continued at Clarendon Park last Thursday.

Denbigh, the 2010 All-Island and Senior League champions, had to work really hard to secure victory as they were pushed throughout the entire match before coming out on top.

The May-Pen-based Denbigh took a 21-17 lead at half-time before a ding-dong battle ensued in the third and fourth quarters where they went right down to a thrilling finish.

By virtue of their victory, Denbigh have emerged winners of Group Three with maximum 15 points from five wins, while Holmwood finished second on 12 points. Both have qualified for the quarter-finals knockout scheduled for Wednesday.

Winning coach Janice Hancel-Walker said the match was very competitive from the beginning. “The girls stood up to the task and they were rewarded.”

Hancel-Walker who has been the Denbigh coach for the past eight years noted that they have more work to do.

Meanwhile, losing coach of many-time champions Holmwood, Carline Graham-Powell, said she had expected the game to be very competitive and it proved so.

“The girls produced a few errors with their turnovers and as a result we have a lot of work to do coming into the quarter-finals knockout stage.”

She said Holmwood still had a chance of making it to the semi-finals as the confidence is still with the players. “We are champions, and champions don’t go down that easily and we are going to fight all the way to the very end.”

Denbigh, the defending junior league champions had no mercy on Holmwood as they won very convincingly, 49-16, in a one-sided affair to registered their fifth win in the second round and also topped Group Three with maximum 15 points from five outings.

This was Holmwood’s second defeat and so they did not make it to the knockout quarter-finals.

Open Rally champions Manchester High have ended St Elizabeth Technical High School’s (STETHS) unbeaten streak when they won both the junior and senior matches to top Group Two in both sections and a place in the quarter-finals with 15 points each. STETHS should also advance to the quarter-finals by finishing runners-up.

Manchester defeated STETHS juniors 45-16 and the seniors 45-31 to remain unbeaten and have signalled that they will be hard to beat in the remaining matches.

— G Reid