Junction , St Elizabeth — Standing at the entrance to Audrey Hot Spot on Monday, Dean Martin, like everyone else in the bar, was focused on the merriment outside.

“Forty year fi Junction an’ is the first time wi get a win,” he said with a chuckle.

Hundreds of students, teachers and other staff from B B Coke High School and their supporters were marching through the town to celebrate triumph in the Ben Francis Cup football knock-out competition for rural high schools.

Last Saturday, B B Coke High — popularly referred to by older residents as ‘Junction School’ — beat favourites Garvey Maceo High from Clarendon on penalties in Montego Bay to lift the Ben Francis Cup after the two teams had played to a 2-2 draw in full time.

In Monday’s celebration which started close to midday after morning classes, the chanting, flag-waving, horn-blowing ‘massive’ marched from B B Coke High to the centre of Junction, 300 metres away, and paraded through the town before gathering in the square.

Sometime later their heroes, the football squad which had gone on tour of neighbouring communities, finally arrived in an open-back truck to great jubilation.

Those who spoke to the Jamaica Observer as well as in a short speech-making ceremony made it clear they considered the football team’s achievement more than just sport.

It was, they said, another step towards making B B Coke High — first established in 1971 as Junction Junior Secondary — a school of choice for children in south-east St Elizabeth and neighbouring southern Manchester.

“We are overjoyed, elated… we have never seen anything like this and we are going to build on this,” Principal Evadney Ledgister told the Observer.

She claimed B B Coke High was reaping rewards for developing a comprehensive and “consistent programme” for football over the last six years.

She noted that the Ben Francis Cup title was a continuation of sporting success first tasted last year when the school won the fledgling rugby union competition for high schools.

Ledgister later thanked the people of Junction in a short speech. “You have been our cheerleaders, you have been our supporters; we thank you,” Ledgister said.

She hailed Coach Kemar Ricketts for his lead role and also thanked the rest of the management/technical team and the players for their hard work, discipline and resourcefulness.

Chairman of the school board Cetany Holness, who is also councillor (JLP) for the Junction Division, told the Observer that the football success came in tandem with rapid improvements in recent years in academics.

B B Coke High was signalling that it was on the road to becoming “among the top high schools in Jamaica,” Holness boasted.

Also, he said B B Coke High’s success had lifted the spirit and morale of the people of Junction and neighbouring communities.

Member of Parliament for St Elizabeth South Eastern Frank Witter, a former student and teacher of the school, told the young footballers they had lifted the school and community from “the bottom and now we are at the top”.

They had also shown, said Witter, that with the proper approach “we have the capacity to perform in any endeavour”.

— Garfield Myers