SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Six-time champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and Edwin Allen are among the early favourites for the ISSA Ben Francis Knock-out that will start Thursday with the quarter-final round.

Eight teams — two each from the four quarter-final groups in the daCosta Cup competition — qualified for the Ben Francis KO with today’s winners making progress to the semi-final set for next Tuesday at St Elizabeth Technical.

STETHS, who were edged out of a place in the semi-finals of the daCosta Cup and the Champions Cup, will face Vere Technical in the second game of a double-header in Santa Cruz, while Edwin Allen tackle seven-time champions Cornwall College at Drax Hall.

In other matches, former champions Frome Technical will go up against Munro College in the first game at STETHS, while Manchester High and Christiana High will meet at Kirkvine.

Based on form in the daCosta Cup last month, STETHS and Edwin Allen, if they can maintain their momentum, will start favourites.

STETHS and Garvey Maceo High, for their part, tied on seven points in their daCosta Cup quarter-final group, but the latter, on the back of their 12-0 whipping of St Thomas Technical, won the group on goal-difference.

STETHS went into their final game against Frome Technical with the edge over Garvey Maceo, but an injury to their top striker Rohane Brown saw the goals that would have seen them through, dry up.

A fit Brown will make a difference for STETHS against a Vere Technical team that was competitive against the top teams in their group but gave up 10 goals in their three games.

Edwin Allen would have been eyeing a good run into the daCosta Cup competition but finished second in their group behind a rampant Dinthill Technical team.

On Thursday, they face a Cornwall College team that had been improving through the season, and their 5-0 beating of Christiana High in the quarter-final would have been their best result but then lost 2-1 to Manchester High.

The first game at STETHS look evenly poised between two teams that have seen wild fluctuation in form through the season.

Frome Technical got off to a fast start but lost twice in the first round and finished second to Manning’s School, in the quarter-final they lost to Garvey Maceo, hammered St Thomas Technical 9-2 and then imploded against STETHS, losing 6-0.

Munro College had a good run to get out of their group but then lost both play-off games before doing just enough to get to the Ben Francis KO.

The game at Kirkvine will be a repeat of a Zone D game that ended in a 0-0 draw, a result that would ensure both schools would make progress but since then Manchester High have had the better results, winning two while Christiana has a single victory.

Thursday’s games

3:00 pm — Edwin Allen vs Cornwall College @ Drax Hall

3:00 pm — STETHS vs Vere Tech @ STETHS

3:00 pm — Manchester High vs Christiana High @ Kirkvine

1:00 pm — Munro College vs Frome Technical @ STETHS-