Former champions Jamaica College (JC) booked their spot in the final of the ISSA/Wata Champions Cup knockout competition after an exciting 5-4 penalty kick victory over St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) in their semi-final contest on Saturdayevening at the National Stadium.

This after both teams played out an entertaining 1-1 draw at full time, with Alec Benny scoring for JC in the 26th minute, while Andre Salmon netted for STATHS in the 44th minute.

In the penalty shoot-out, JC scored all five of their kicks, with the goals coming from Romain Blake, Renson Sayers, Kevaughn Wilson, and substitutes Manquan Aldridge and Tarick Ximines.

However, Captain Alexander Gooden missed the second penalty kick for STATHS in the shoot-out.

In the late kick off of the double-header, Kingston College were leading Clarendon College 3-0 at press time.

Meanwhile, JC Coach Davion Ferguson, who last won the Champions Cup title in 2014, said he was always very confident that his team would have won the shoot-out.

“We have players who have experienced this before and we have players that are seasoned campaigners at this level, and so we were confident going into the shoot-out,” said Ferguson.

“We know that when it goes to penalties it is always nerves, but I think we are mature enough and we held our nerves and we won the shoot-out, and so we are happy about that,” he added.

Ferguson said his team played well throughout the match, therefore, he was a little disappointed that they did not win the game in full time.

“We definitely wanted to win it in 90 minutes, but we started the game a little slow because we rested seven players from our previous game, and so we lost our technical balance, but in the end I know that we had the quality on the bench to win the game,” he said.

Phillip Williams, coach of STATHS, was gracious in defeat.

“It was a good display from both teams because we played some good football which is good for the viewing public and in the end JC came out the winners on penalties.

“I think the penalties could have gone either way, but the JC guys held their nerves but unfortunate for our captain that he missed for us, but it was a good game overall,” he said.

STATHS dominated the early exchanges with Salmon and Shakeone Satchwell missing clear-cut opportunities for their team.

They were made to pay for their misses when fleet-footed Benny dribbled around two defenders inside the 18-yard box before unleashing a powerful right-footed shot past goalkeeper Jaheem Williams.

However, Salmon netted the equaliser for STATHS on the stroke of half-time with a brilliant close-range shot, which went like a rocket past custodian Rassico Rose as the first half ended 1-1.

Both teams created a number of scoring opportunities in the second period, but poor finishing from their attacking players let them down.