CATHERINE HALL, St James — Former champions Clarendon College (CC) and Rusea’s High will meet in the final of the ISSA/FLOW daCosta Cup schoolboy football competition after scoring big wins in yesterday’s semi-finals played at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

Fourteen goals were scored across the double header as both teams won similar 5-2 scorelines. Clarendon College beat Dinthill Technical in the first game, while Rusea’s High shocked 10-man St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) in the second game to set up a repeat of the 1989 final.

Ronaldo Webster, who came on as a substitute, was sent off after he elbowed Rusea’s High’s Kenroy Campbell in an off-the-ball incident.

Twenty-eight years ago Rusea’s High beat then Ben Francis KO champions Clarendon College at Jarrett Park.

Clarendon College return to the final for the first time since 2014 when they last won, as two goals each from Nicque Daley and Lemar Walker carried them to an emphatic win over a Dinthill Technical team that lost their last three games after a season that promised much.

Despite the scoreline, Dinthill Technical came back twice to cut the deficit to one goal midway the second half, but Clarendon College turned up the throttle and scored three more times and danced their way into the final.

After going down to a big 4-1 drubbing against Kingston College in the FLOW Super Cup first round, Rusea’s High roared back with a spectacular display, coming from an early goal down to prevent STETHS from qualifying for a seventh-straight final.

Nazime Matalie scored twice in the second half for Rusea’s High, who got off to a shaky start but grew in confidence to score an emphatic win that will go a far way in encouraging their fans who walked out during their loss to Kingston College less than two weeks ago.

Lenworth Hyde, the technical director for Clarendon College, told the Jamaica Observer that his players rose to the occasion, coming off their upset loss in the FLOW Super Cup first round to Calabar High, knowing that a loss yesterday would mean the end of their season.

“It’s a job well done,” he said. “I think this Dinthill team played well, they pushed us back several times but we were confident and we are playing well and we finished well today, to score five goals is a plus going into the final.”

The difference from the last game, Hyde said, was “the commitment from the players; we spoke with them and they knew what was on the line, that we had to win today or the season was over and they responded well.”

Curtis Hamilton, the Dinthill coach, was disappointed with the number of goals his team gave up, but said they “played to the final whistle”.

Hamilton admitted they had issues motivating the team after they lost to Jamaica College in the first round of the FLOW Super Cup. “It’s not just today, based on some issues after the JC game that cost us this game. We tried our best, but it was hard to motivate them, and it was not to be. But they still played hard and we have to give them credit, we played to the final whistle.

“This is a well organised Clarendon College team and we just could not concede so many goals and hope to compete at this level,” he said and bemoaned his defence giving up 12 goals in the last three games, all losses.

After a tentative start Clarendon College took the lead in the 20th minute when Daley shook off his marker, dribbled into the Dinthill area and beat the advancing goalkeeper Demero Hill with a well-placed shot low into the left corner of the goal.

Just after Daley missed high with a half volley from just inside the 18-yard box, Walker made it 2-0 in the 32nd minute when his free kick from about 20 yards out beat Hill on its way into the goal.

Dinthill Technical pulled one back just minutes later when Kaheem Parris, who was hacked down inside the box, converted the resulting penalty kick in the 34th minute.

Ricardo McIntosh restored Clarendon College’s two-goal advantage in the 52nd minute when he beat Hill from close range to make the score 3-1.

Dinthill pulled to within a goal in the 63rd minute when Shamari Davis, who replaced Antonio Roberts at the start of the second half, scored from a brilliant chip after dancing past two defenders and placing the ball over the body of the diving Benjamin Williams in the Clarendon College goal.

Clarendon College then took over and scored twice in a 10-minute span to put the game out of reach of Dinthill. Daley got his second in the 65th minute when he ran past an advancing Hill and slotted into an empty goal, and Walker got his second in the 74th minute beating substitute goalkeeper Troy Taylor, who had replaced the injured Hill a minute earlier.

The second game pitted two teams seemingly going in different directions — STETHS coming off a pulsating come-from-behind win over Calabar High in the FLOW Super Cup semis on Saturday and Rusea’s High, who had lost their last two games.

Rusea’s High started nervously and could have been down early as the defence and goalkeeper St Michael Edwards seemed not to be on the same page.

A powerful header from Alex Thompson in the 21st minute gave STETHS the lead, but it seemed the goal woke Rusea’s High from their stupor and they scored the next five goals in a brilliant comeback.

Shawn Bradford, who sat out the entire first round of the season with an injury, drew Rusea’s High level in the 22nd minute when an attempted clearance from the STETHS goalkeeper Kenroy Wallace rebounded off him and flew into the unguarded goal.

Leonardo Fogarthy gave them the lead in the 34th minute when he finished off a move after Daniel Reid laid the ball in his path and he easily beat Wallace.

Matalie got the first of his two early in the second half when he headed past Wallace to make the score 3-1.

STETHS were reduced to 10 players in the 72nd minute and Rusea’s High made full use of the advantage almost immediately when Daniel Reid beat Wallace after a smart solo effort, and Matalie scored his second in the 81st minute.

Tahjae Green got a second goal for STETHS late in the game, but by then the contest was over.