JAMAICA College (JC) Head Coach Davion Ferguson says hard work and dedication were key factors that contributed to his team winning this year’s ISSA/Digicel Manning title.

JC lifted the Corporte Area crown after their exciting 8-7 penalty shoot-out victory over St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) in final at Sabina Park on Friday evening. Both teams were locked 1-1 after regulation time.

Jaheem Frazer scored for JC in the 27th minute while Shakeone Satchwell netted for STATHS in the 58th. The victory gave JC their third lien on the trophy in the last five years and their 31st overall Manning Cup title.

“I think that the preparation that we had from the preseason heading into the season was one of the best,” opined Ferguson.

“We managed to finish the Manning Cup season without losing a game and so I think that mental fortitude and that character that we showed all season and that resilience really played through to the end,” he added.

Ferguson lauded his players for the sacrifices they made for the campaign to regain their title.

“I think these boys sacrificed a lot. They gave up a lot and they worked hard, and we pushed them very hard all season,” Ferguson revealed. “The expectations at the start of the season were that we wanted to regain our championships, and we put in the work to match that desire and that hope, that dream that we had. In the end it paid off for us,” he stated.

In the penalty shoot-out Thyeim Shaw, Renson Sayers, Xavier Davidson, Kevaughn Wilson, Maquan Aldridge, Michael Graham, J’havier Lynch and Tarick Ximines scored for JC while Romain Blake missed.

For STATHS, Nickoy Gayle, Ronaldo Livingston, Satchwell, Delaney Whyte, Leon Brown, Omari Laing and Andre Salmon were on the mark, while Nemar Nelson and Rashaun Frankson were off target.

The Old Hope Road-based institution also defeated STATHS in the 2017 and 2019 finals to lift the trophy.

Ferguson shared that he expected a tough game from STATHS because they are a very good all-round team, with skillful individual players.

“As expected, STATHS are a very good team. They run a lot, they run very hard, and they have a good offensive treat. And defensively they tried to be very solid so they get the balance right in terms of how they wanted to play, so we expected it to be a very tough game and it was,” Ferguson pointed out..

“However, we scored a very good goal from Jaheem Fraser — and we could have added to it because we had some chances — but I was always confident that once we got to penalties we would have come out on top,” he added.

— Robert Bailey