Irwin High won Zone A of the ISSA daCosta Cup football competition for the first time in their history on Saturday after coming from a goal down at half time to beat Cornwall College 2-1 for the second time this season.

Irwin High completed their schedule with 24 points from seven wins and three draws while the race for the runner up spot could go down to the wire.

Giovannie Bruce gave Cornwall College the lead after the 3rd minute but Nicholus Samuels leveled the scores in the 69th minute and Irwin High then took the lead thanks to an own goal in the 74th minute.

In their first meeting at Irwin, they had come from behind with two late goals to beat Cornwall College and were the first team to beat the former champions twice in the first round for more than two decades. It was also the first time Cornwall College had lost four games in the first round in decades.

Cornwall College are still in second place on 15 points with one game to go against St James High on Tuesday. Green Pond who beat St James High 2-0 are on 14 points with a game to go while Maldon High who edged Anchovy High 1-0 are on 12 points with two games to go.

Meanwhile, Tacky High ended a 16-year drought and qualified for the second round after earning a 1-1 draw against Horace Clarke High in their return round Zone J game played at Horace Clarke High on Saturday.

St Mary School was one of eight schools that booked their spots in the second round on Saturday to take the number of qualifiers to 29 with just one other automatic spot from Zone A plus the two best third placed teams left to be decided.

BB Coke High from Zone E, Manchester High and Belair High from Zone F, Tacky High and St Mary Technical from Zone J, Vere Technical from Zone N and Happy Grove High and Titchfield High from Zone O all made progress on Saturday.

Tacky High got some measure of revenge against Horace Clarke High who had beaten them 3-2 earlier in the week, stalling their progress but they topped Zone J on goal-difference over St Mary Technical after they beat Wycliffe Martin High 2-0. Both schools finished on 17 points.

BB Coke got the runner-up spot from Zone E after beating MaggottyHigh 3-1 while zone winners St Elizabeth Technical avenged their loss to Munro College, winning the return game 2-0 on Saturday.

Manchester High’s come from behind 2-1 win over deCarteret saw them win Zone F with 25 points, eliminating the losers while Belair High snatched second place with a 4-0 win over Mt St Joseph Catholic and finished with 22 points. Vere Technical booked their spot from Zone N after a 5-0 win over Foga Road High while Happy Grove and Titchfield advanced with wins over Fair Prospect High and Port Antonio High respectively.

Frome Technical won Zone B after a 0-0 draw against Rusea’s High at Frome while William Knibb beat Herbert Morrison Technical 10-0 for the second time this season.

Saturday’s Results

Zone A

Cornwall 1, Irwin 2

St James 0 Green Pond 2

Anchovy 0, Maldon 1

Zone B

Green Island 2, Merlene Ottey 0

Frome Tech 0, Rusea’s 0

Zone C

Cedric Titus 0, Spot Valley 2

William Knibb 10, Herbert Morrison 0

Zone D

Belmont Academy vs Black River @ Crawford Sports Complex

Grange Hill 1, Godfrey Stewart 2

Manning’s 0, Petersfield 0

Zone E

Sydney Pagon STEM vs Lacovia @ Lacovia

BB Coke 3, Maggotty 1

STETHS 2, Munro 0

Zone F

Mt St Joseph 0, Belair 4

Manchester High 3, deCarteret 1

Zone H

Kellits vs Thompson Town @ Morant Housing Scheme

Edwin Allen 1, Clarendon College 1

Zone J

Horace Clarke 1, Tacky High 1

Wycliffe Martin 0, St Mary Technical 2

St Mary High 0, Annotto Bay 1

Zone M

Old Harbour 1, Denbigh 2

Glenmuir High 2, Central 0

Zone N

Garvey Maceo vs Winston Jones @ Garvey Maceo

Vere Tech 5, Foga Road 0

Zone O

Port Antonio 0, Titchfield 2

Fair Prospect 1, Happy Grove 4

– Paul Reid