Excelsior High will once again start heavy favourites as they face Denham Town High in the first game of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Tip Friendly Society high schoolgirls football competition on Monday.

But Head Coach Xavier Gilbert says his players will not be underestimating their opponents.

Excelsior will entertain Denham Town, while Manchester High will travel to Lacovia High for their Group 1 fixture. Both matches are set to start 3:00 pm.

“I managed to get a look at the Denham Town team, and offensively, we have to curtail their strength, which is Natoya Atkinson, and she is a very lethal striker. Defensively, I think there are some areas that we need to exploit,” Gilbert told the Jamaica Observer.

“We will play the usual, competitive and good football, moving the ball a lot and scoring some goals. It’s a round robin in the quarter-final stage, and the top two teams from each group advance to the semi-finals, so we definitely have to ensure that we finish in the top two, and of course, we want to top the group,” he said.

In their first game of the tournament, Excelsior whipped Bridgeport High 25-1, the biggest margin of the tournament so far. And since then, the Mountain View-based team has sustained their dominance, comfortably winning their last seven games on the trot to remain unbeaten.

The defending champions defeated Yallahs High 5-0 at home on March 13, 15-0 on aggregate, to progress to the last eight. Excelsior and Denham Town are also drawn in Group 1 alongside Lacovia and Manchester. Group 2 is comprised of Garvey Maceo, Frome Technical, Holmwood Technical, and Camperdown.

“It is a great feeling to reach the quarter-finals, and we have anticipated that we would have done so. We are just happy to be there, and we just have to go out there and perform now. The turnaround time is really short as some of the girls are playing in the Women’s Premier League as well, and so we just have to get mentally prepared,” the Excelsior coach noted.

En route to the quarter-finals, Denham Town, who advanced from the group stage as the seventh-best team overall, drew 3-3 with St Andrew Technical in the first-leg of the round-of-16 before beating their opponents 5-2 to advance 8-5 on aggregate.

TODAY’S GAMES

Group 1

Excelsior vs Denham Town @ Excelsior

Lacovia vs Manchester @ Lacovia

Group 2

Garvey Maceo vs Camperdown @ Garvey Maceo

Frome vs Holmwood @ Frome

All games to begin 3:00 pm