BLACK River High’s football Head Coach Vayden Hayle expressed elation after the team advanced to the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Wata daCosta Cup second round for the first time in 19 years.

On Saturday, Black River beat visitors Knockalva Technical 4-0 in the Zone D return game.

Adrian Johnson scored a hat-trick to lead the St Elizabeth-based team to its fifth win of the season. They finished the preliminary round with 16 points to place second in Zone D behind Manning’s School (19 points). Manning’s had defeated Grange Hill 6-1 on Saturday.

“This means a lot. It’s been 19 years — and that is a long time,” an overjoyed Hayle told the Jamaica Observer after the dominant win against Knockalva.

Hayle, who represented Munro College and Black River High in both hockey and football, had just missed playing in the second round with the latter when he graduated in 2003, and began attending university the following year.

He admitted there were “some jitters” before Saturday’s game as they had lost to Petersfield High in their previous game. They had also lost to Knockalva in the teams’ first meeting this season.

The Black River team, he said, is largely made up of players who had qualified for the semi-finals of the ISSA rural area Under-16 competition last year. He said only four members of that group from last season have not returned.

Elsewhere, BB Coke, Tacky High, St Mary High, Central High and Vere Technical also made progress to be among 26 schools to have booked automatic spots to the second round.

BB Coke got the point they needed from their game against already-qualified St Elizabeth Technical, ending 1-1 to claim second with 20 points. They had one point more than Munro College who beat Lacovia High 2-0.

Tacky High and St Mary High both ended up with 20 points to claim both spots from Zone I. Tacky beat Wycliffe Martin High 4-1, while St Mary High were 2-1 winners over Horace Clarke High.

Central High, last season’s beaten finalists, clawed their way back from a slow start to the season. They sealed their spot with a 2-1 win over Old Harbour High to finish second behind Glenmuir High.

Former daCosta Cup kingpins Vere Technical booked their place with a 4-0 victory over Foga Road High to claim second place in Zone M, behind Garvey Maceo High.

— Paul A Reid

SATURDAY’S RESULTS

Maldon 1, Irwin 3

Cornwall 2, St James 1

Green Pond 7, Spot Valley 0

Ocho Rios 0, Brown’s Town 0

Black River 4, Knockalva 0

Grange Hill 1, Manning’s 6

STETHS 1, BB Coke 1

Lacovia 0, Munro 2

deCarteret 1, May Day 2

Manchester 3, Belair 1

Cross Keys 2, Mount St Joseph 1

Alphansus Davis 0, Mile Gully 0

Clarendon 3, Edwin Allen 0

Tacky 4, Wycliffe Martin 1

St Mary High 2, Horace Clarke 1

Paul Bogle 2, Morant Bay 1

Central High 2, Old Harbour 1

Glenmuir 2, Denbigh 1

Foga Road 0, Vere 4

Garvey Maceo 4, Kemps Hill 3