KINGSTON, Jamaica – Many-time champions St George’s College (STGC) and Excelsior High (XLCR) are set to dual in a mouth-watering Group A top-of-the-table clash, part of a schedule of 17 games across all seven groups in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/FLOW Manning Cup competition on Friday.

All games are set to kick off at 3:30 pm.

Both STGC and XLCR will renew their rivalry following the abandonment of their previous meeting due to the tragic loss of STGC’s captain Dominic James with the score a 2-1 in favour of XLCR at Stadium East.

With that fixture to be completed at a later date, it will be a fresh start for today’s encounter and the anticipation will be high in both camps. A victory for either team would see them securing the lucrative spot to vie for the Super Cup and Walker Cup knockout titles.

STGC currently head the five-team group on 15 points from five outings and will be confident of securing all three points at home to maintain a perfect win record while adding to their goal tally. The Neville Bell-coached team has so far netted 30 times and conceded once with 28 of those goals being registered at their North Street-based stomping ground.

Six second half goals in a marauding display against Tivoli High will serve as added motivation for the “Light Blues” to bide their time and pounce when it really matters against their Mountain View Avenue-based opponents at Winchester Park.

However, the Shavar Thomas-conditioned XLCR unit on 13 points has shown that they are no pushovers and pack some dangerous fire power in midfield and attack namely Thorne Buchanan, Tyane Wilson and Alain Skerritt.

Fourth-placed Tivoli (three points) should bounce back from their recent defeat when they welcome a young Tarrant outfit that is rooted at the bottom of the five-team table without a point.

In Group B, champions Jamaica College (13 points) should secure a second win on the trot despite playing away to fourth-placed Vauxhall (two points) in the lone group fixture. The Miguel Coley-led unit chalked up a comfortable 6-0 victory against the same opponents when they last met and a similar performance is anticipated.

Group C leaders Kingston College (22 points) have laced up a new pair of scoring boots as they continue to chart the course as the competition’s most attacking team with 44 goals. Little if any changes are expected to be seen in their free-flowing attacking nature in today’s penultimate first round fixture against fifth-placed Ascot (five points) at Cedar Grove Field.

Second-placed Denham Town (19 points) will be away to fourth-placed St Mary’s College (five points) while third-placed Papine (10 points) will host bottom placed Norman Manley (three points) in the other group fixtures.

Meanwhile, the red hot form of Group F leaders Wolmer’s Boys (24 points) should continue when they visit fourth-placed Jose Marti (eight pionts) with second-placed Camperdown (13 points) expected to bounce back to winning ways against fifth-placed Kingston Technical (seven points) while third-placed Dunoon Technical (nine points) will visit the pointless Edith Dalton James.

Friday’s schedule

Group A

St George’s College vs Excelsior @ Winchester Park

Tivoli  vs Tarrant @ Edward Seaga Complex

Group B

Vauxhall vs Jamaica College @ STATHS

Group C

Ascot   vs Kingston College @ Cedar Grove Field

St Mary’s College vs Denham Town @ Above Rocks

Papine vs Norman Manley @ Papine

Group D

Haile Selassie vs Meadowbrook @ Haile Selassie

St Catherine vs Jonathan Grant @ St Catherine

Pembroke Hall vs Ardenne @ Pembroke Hall

Group E

Waterford vs Charlie Smith @ Waterford

Mona vs Clan Carthy @ Mona

Group F

Jose Marti Technical vs Wolmer’s Boys @ Jose Marti

Edith Dalton James vs Dunoon Technical @ Duhaney Park

Camperdown vs Kingston Technical @ Alpha Institute

Group G

Calabar vs Cumberland @ Red Hills Road

Hydel vs Campion College @ Caymanas Field

Bridgeport vs St Jago @ Dunbeholden

*All games are scheduled for 3:30 pm kick-off