SPOT VALLEY, St James — William Knibb Memorial High and Titchfield High could reserve their places in the second round of the ISSA/Digicel daCosta Cup competition today with wins as action continues with 18 games.

The intensity is expected to pick up several notches across all 15 zones as teams start to jockey for positions for a run at the second-round places that will go to the top two teams from each zone, plus the best third-place teams from two preselected pools.

Additionally, today, former champions Frome Technical and Clarendon College will seek to maintain perfect win records, while Irwin High will hope to snap their two-game winless run and get back to winning ways.

William Knibb have won all three games so far and a fourth in a row today could see them make progress to the second round, depending, of course, on the results of the other Zone C game between Herbert Morrison Technical and Muschett High, the latter having lost all their four games played.

William Knibb have scored 21 unanswered goals in their three wins, 18 coming in their last two, and face a Spot Valley team that has managed to score just two goals so far.

A win for Titchfield High over Port Antonio High would see them move to within a point of advancing with two games to go in Zone O.

Titchfield High lead with seven points, followed by Happy Grove High on five points, one more than Port Antonio with Fair Prospect yet to earn a point.

Neither Frome Technical nor Clarendon College have been tested so far and have dominated their opponents and are expected to win again today when they take on Merlene Ottey High and Kellits High, respectively.

Frome thrashed Green Island High 5-1 on Monday to win their fourth-straight game, while Merlene Ottey were beaten 1-0 by Hopewell High in their foot-of-the-table clash.

Clarendon College also scored five goals on Monday against Thompson Town and face Kellits who they had trounced 7-0 in the first round.

Rusea’s High, second in Zone B, should get the better of Hopewell High and move closer to the second round after winning the first-round game 7-0 in Hopewell.

After their historic four-straight wins, Irwin High were held scoreless in their last two games and will face a resurgent Maldon High twice in three days, this time at home.

Maldon High, however, will have their tails up as they seek to extend their four-game unbeaten run and will hope their momemtum will continue today.

Defending champions Garvey Maceo will get a chance to atone for their 2-2 draw against Kemps Hill in the opening game when they meet in a Zone N game today.

Garvey Maceo had to come from behind twice against Kemps Hill, but since then have won their next two games and will be awarded the points from their game against Vere Technical that was interrupted last week.

Kemps Hill failed to build on their good start and are on four points after a win on Monday.

Today’s games

Zone A

St James vs Anchovy @Jarrett Park

Irwin vs Maldon @ Irwin

Zone B

Rusea’s vs Hopewell @ Collin Miller Sports Complex

Merlene Ottey vs Frome @ Merlene Ottey

Zone C

Herbert Morrison vs Muschett @ Herbert Morrison

Spot Valley vs William Knibb @ Spot Valley

Zone F

Bellefield vs deCarteret @ Bellefield

Belair vs Manchester @Belair

Mt St Joseph vs May Day @Mt St Joseph

Zone H

Edwin Allen vs Lennon @ Edwin Allen

Clarendon College vs Kellits @Turner’s Field

Zone J

Wycliffe Martin vs Annotto Bay @Wycliffe Martin

St Mary Tech vs Tacky High @ Richmond Farms

Zone M

Tacius Golding vs Central @ Port Esquivel

Zone N

Vere Tech vs Winston Jones @Vere Tech

Kemps Hill vs Garvey Maceo @Kemps Hill

Zone O

Titchfield vs Port Antonio@Carder Park

Happy Grove vs Fair Prospect @ Hector’s River

— Paul Reid