Every schoolboy football season sees young stars explode into the popular consciousness and this year was no different.

There simply isn’t enough space to talk about all the potential rising stars of the urban area ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup and so the focus afforded to Shakeone Satchwell of St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) and Jamaica College’s Tarick Ximines can be understood.

Both were instrumental in getting their respective teams into another Manning Cup final and, for sure, both are aiming to dazzle with hopes of reigning supreme at the end of the showpiece at Sabina Park today.

Kick off is 6:30 pm.

It may feel like Ximines has been around far too long to still only be 18 years old, but such is his experience, having won the Manning Cup in 2019 and lost last year, while also strutting his stuff in the Jamaica Premier League for Harbour View as well as for the senior Reggae Boyz team, at times.

Though he initially opted to sit out this, his final season at the schoolboy level, he was brought back into the fold by Head Coach Davion Ferguson to improve Jamaica College’s attacking treasure chest and the move has certainly paid dividends for both player and school.

Jamaica College, which ruled the coop between 2013 and 2017, are contesting their eighth final in nine seasons as they hunt their 31st lien on the prestigious Cup.

“I am very pleased to be in the finals again this year because we were there last year and we didn’t get the result we wanted, so now we have another opportunity to play to get our hands on the Manning Cup,” Ximines said.

“So I’m very happy, especially from a personal perspective, because I wasn’t playing for months and I am at a point now where I’m good, but still not where I want to be and so I’m still pushing to be even better than where I was six months ago,” he told the Jamaica Observer.

With loads of skills, searing pace, and dribbling ability, Ximines has the talent to both decide games and delight fans. And while it seems as if he has been there and done that, the versatile player says he still has a point to prove.

“I had one goal this season and that was to ensure that my team come out victorious. My mom, dad, and brothers have been my motivation and so I just want to do my best to make them feel proud,” he declared.

“I am always confident when [I] am on a football pitch. It doesn’t matter how many times my team beat the opponent, we are level-headed and ready to get the job done,” Ximines added, referring to the rematch with STATHS.

Unlike the more attack-minded Ximines, Satchwell is more of a calming influence in the middle of the park for his team, not to mention the fact that he is also their dead-ball specialist.

He knows what’s at stake for the Bumper Hall-based team, which is aiming to not only snap a title drought dating back to 1987 but also turn the tables on familiar foes who conquered them in the 2017 and 2019 finals and, more recently, the Champions Cup semi-final.

“I’m very happy that we have another chance to right the wrongs from the Champions Cup and we are well motivated going in as we want to win this for Omar Laing.

“Many may be surprised that we are here [in a final], but I’m not surprised because I know our potential and we have worked hard to get here, so the confidence level remains high as we will come better,” Satchwell told the Observer.

With 13 goals to his record so far, the 18-year-old is eager to add to his tally for more reasons than one.

“This is my first schoolboy football final at any level, so it would be great to score and not only get a win for the school but also to break Omar’s goalscoring record,” Satchwell declared.