STETHS leads trio into d’Cup second round
KINGSTON, Jamaica – St Elizabeth Technical High (STETHS), Dinthill Technical and Cedric Titus High secured their places in the second round of the ISSA/Wata daCosta Cup football competition on Monday after return round wins.
STETHS and Cedric Titus High completed their play-off games against Lacovia High and William Knibb Memorial- that started on Saturday- respectively, while Dinthill Technical extended their perfect win record with a 1-0 win over Charlemont High in their rescheduled Zone J game that was interrupted by lightning on September 19 that saw several players and match officials hospitalised.
READ: Lightning strike during D’Cup hospitalises four
STETHS beat Lacovia High 4-2 in Zone E and Cedric Titus blanked William Knibb Memorial 2-0 in their Zone C games, both in the mini play-offs.
Eleven of the 32 spots have now been taken after eight schools had booked their places up to Saturday.
STETHS and Lacovia were tied at 1-1 on Saturday when their Zone E game was suspended, and on Monday the former winners went on to win 4-2 and improved to 22 points and cannot finish lower than second in the Zone.
Donate Campbell’s penalty had drawn STETHS level at 1-1 on Saturday and Ajay Smith, DeAndre Hibbert and Justin McPherson scored on Monday.
Kamari Gordon and Terron Eccleston scored second half goals for Cedric Titus in their game that was locked at 0-0 when it was called off on Saturday, as they won 2-0 to secure their second round place with 22 points.
William Knibb who have made it to the quarterfinals the last two seasons are left in a precarious position as even with three teams from Zone C earning an automatic spot in the next round, are on 12 points and must win their two remaining games to stay in contention.
Giovanni Afflick’s lone goal was enough to give Dinthill Technical a 1-0 win over Charlemont High, three days after they beat them 7-0 on Saturday.
The win was Dinthill’s sixth in a row and took them to 18 points and can only be caught by McGrath High.
Meanwhile, the race for places from Zone I got even tighter on Monday after fourth placed St Mary High beat top ranked Tacky High 3-0 while Horace Clarke High edged second placed Wycliffe Martin High 1-0.
Despite Monday’s results, Tacky High still leads with 17 points but they are just one ahead of St Mary High and Horace Clarke, both on 16 points, while Wycliffe Martin High have slipped to fourth place, on 14 points.
Mile Gully took over sole leadership in Zone after beating Christiana High 1-0 in their top of the zone clash, their second win against them this season and moved to 18 points.
Alphansus Davis High won their first game of the season, edging Bellefield High 1-0 and dealt their second round plans a major blow.