MONTEGO BAY, St James — Defending champions St Elizabeth Technical High (STETHS), Glenmuir High and Garvey Maceo lead all qualifiers as the second round of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Rural Area Under-16 football competition gets underway today with eight games.

The top two teams in the eight first-round groups advanced to the second round and the final 16 was only decided on Saturday when Seaforth High were declared winners of Zone G after Titchfield High got their first win, edging Port Antonio High who ended up as runners-up.

Each team will play three games in the quarter-final stage with the winners of each of the four zones advancing to the semi-finals set for Wednesday, April 20.

The second set of games in the quarter-finals will be played next Monday, April 11 and the final round of games on Wednesday 13.

Today, STETHS, who beat Calabar High on penalty kicks in the all-island final in 2019 — the last time the competition was staged — will host Vere Technical at the STETHS Sports Complex.

STETHS won Zone C with 12 points, conceding just one goal in the process. They ended with one point more than Munro College, while Vere Technical were second to Garvey Maceo in Zone F.

Glenmuir High and Garvey Maceo will try to protect perfect win records today after easily topping their first-round groups.

Glenmuir, who advanced from a group which included Clarendon College, will face Dinthill Technical, who were second in a competitive Zone H, and this could be a competitive game.

Garvey Maceo, meanwhile, are on a tear, winning all four games in the first round, scoring 17 goals in the process and will face Port Antonio High in their quarter-final game.

Cornwall College, who are coming off an 8-1 win over Holland High and have scored 23 goals, will face Clarendon College in Montego Bay.

— Paul A Reid

Today’s games

Cornwall College vs Clarendon College

Charlemont High vs Christiana High

STETHS vs Vere Technical

Seaforth High vs Frome Technical

Garvey Maceo High vs Port Antonio High

Irwin High vs Munro College

Glenmuir High vs Dinthill Technical

Manchester High vs St James High

All games to start 3:00 pm. Home teams named first.