CATHERINE HALL, St James — Cornwall College and Rusea’s High, the two most successful daCosta Cup school teams, will meet this evening in a mega-clash for a first-ever spot in the semi-finals of the cash-rich ISSA/FLOW Super Cup at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, set to start at 7:00 pm.

Both teams are coming into the game with impressive records and are coming off impressive midweek wins to kick off their respective quarter-final schedules in the daCosta Cup competition, and will put unbeaten records on the line in a game that must see one team win, even if the game has to go to the penalty kick tiebreaker.

In the first game today at 5:00 pm, St Elizabeth Technical High (STETHS) will be seeking to return to the semi-finals when they take on Manning Cup team Bridgeport, who are in the competition for the first time, for one of the four semi-final places.

A massive turnout is expected for the double-header and organisers were reporting strong demand for tickets to the 7,000-seat venue.

The all-daCosta Cup matchup between Cornwall College, who are riding a 15-game perfect winning streak — including last weekend’s first round of the Super Cup — and Rusea’s High, who have drawn twice in their 11 games played overall, has dominated the build-up to this weekend’s double-header.

Both were 3-0 winners over Manning Cup teams last week — Cornwall beat Denham Town High 3-0, while Rusea’s High beat Haile Selassie High 3-0 a day later.

While both coaches, Cornwall College’s Dr Dean Weatherly and Rusea’s High’s Aaron Lawrence, are welcoming the attention the game is getting, they understand it will come down to the players on the day.

Weatherly gave his team the day off Thursday and told the

Jamaica Observer yesterday his team was “not focusing on the hype and euphoria surrounding the game, we are just getting ready”.

He admitted that with their unblemished record of 15-straight wins, Cornwall could be handed the favourites tag.

“It’s not something that we want or like, but we have put ourselves in the position and we are well aware that we will be up against a good Rusea’s team that is well coached and will be as ready as we are,” said Weatherly.

He was also mindful that Cornwall had not beaten their Hanover neighbours in nearly a decade, noting that“history is not important right now”.

“This is our time and we are ready for the task. Both teams will have to come with their ‘A’ games and it will be the team that wants to win more that will advance,” noted the veteran coach.

Lawrence, meantime, welcomed the “energy” that the game has brought and said western Jamaica high school football needed the positive vibes.

“This (vibe) has been lacking for a while and it’s a wonderful feeling,” he told the

Observer.

While there is no history between Bridgeport and STETHS, the game could be a close contest if their opening games are anything to go by.

Bridgeport High held on to an early goal to deny Dinthill Technical in their game, while STETHS came from behind three times to overhaul Holy Trinity High 4-3 in a thriller.

It’s that performance that STETHS coach Omar Wedderburn wants his team to be measured by.

“It does not matter how we win… as long as the referee is still on the field and we have time, we will find a way to win,” he noted.

Bridgeport’s Garnett Lawrence said they had learned a lot from their win over a tough Dinthill Technical team.

“We must pass the ball around more, last week we were forced to defend for a long time and were not able to do what we wanted to and this week we want to change the dimensions of the game with more passing,” he said.

Javoney Brown has been the saviour for STETHS this season and his double last week made the difference between a win and elimination; will have Demar James, Danray Miller and Rujay Robinson to help break down the Bridgeport team.

Whether it was a strong defence or poor execution by the Dinthill players who had no fewer than six scoring chances in the final 15 minutes, Bridgeport proved they can withstand offensive onslaughts and could be forced to show off their resilience for the second-straight week.

Javaughn Dunn, Dante Green and Shakoon Powell were involved in the few offensive thrusts that Bridgeport had last week and they could test the STETHS defence that was badly exposed by the Holy Trinity strikers last week.