Dinthill Technical striker Jahiem Thomas became the first player to score a hat-trick in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Digicel Champions Cup this season when he put three past St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) in their 5-1 quarter-final win at St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex on Wednesday.

STATHS were the first to score in the 11th minute, but Thomas drew his team level five minutes after, before adding two more in the second half as his team ran riot against the Manning Cup semi-finalists.

Thomas has been having a good season in the DaCosta Cup and took that form into the Champions Cup as he steered his team into the final four for the very first time.

“I am feeling great to know that I scored a hat-trick and moving forward to the semi-finals. It’s a great feeling for me,” he said.

It is the first time that Dinthill are making it to the final four of the Champions Cup and this was pleasing to the diminutive striker.

“I am very, very happy to know that we are the very first team from Dinthill going into the semi-finals.”

Thomas is quite pleased with his season so far as his contributions have been good in a team that has been doing very well and has caught the eye of just about everyone watching schoolboy football.

“The season is going great for me, scoring six goals and two assists coming from the DaCosta Cup into the Champions Cup, I am so, so happy for that,” he noted.

Thomas was bubbling with confidence after the win yesterday, and is mentally prepared to make it to the final of the competition, which is scheduled for next week Saturday.

“We have a 90 per cent chance of going to the final. It doesn’t matter who we face, we are going to take the three points just the same,” Thomas said emphatically.

His Coach Oniel Thomas, no relation to the player, was not surprised by the performance against STATHS on Wednesday.

“He has been knocking at the door for a good while now, with one goal here and two goals there. His movement off the ball is very good so I expected that. It’s good for him.”

The semi-final draw for the Champions Cup was made after the game on Wednesday and Dinthill will come up against the Manning Cup champions Jamaica College in the feature game at the Stadium East Field starting at 3:15 pm on Saturday.

— Dwayne Richards