IN the midst of a ruthless march to realising the dream of back-to-back titles, Mona High Head Coach Craig Butler says his team’s family atmosphere has been a major factor in their success in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association/Digicel Manning Cup.

The defending champions opened their round-of-16 campaign with a dominant 6-0 win over St Jago High at Stadium East on Friday.

The St Catherine-based school had no response for Mona as Javier Dunn led the way with a double while Denzel McKenzie, Demarion Harris, Carlton Brown also found the back of the net. Even goalkeeper Riquelme Edwards netted when he converted a second-half penalty.

Since Butler’s arrival in 2021 Mona have improved yearly and created history last season, winning their first title. He says the team’s togetherness is vital to their continuous quest for glory.

“Love conquers all things. If you have faith but don’t have love, it’s nothing — so we work together, we have faith in what we do, and we all love and care about each other. We spend a lot of time together off the pitch; we don’t forget birthdays,” Butler said.

“We’re there for each other when we’re down — and that’s a very important [way] of making the boys accept what we give them because they know we care. It’s a family; we’ve been together for a long time. It’s not two years or three years, it’s all their life pretty much so we know what we’re doing.”

Butler also believes that his players are reaping the rewards from playing in the top flight with Vere Phoenix United of Clarendon.

“We were well prepared — the Jamaica Premier League played an important role in this. When we took our five boys out and put them in for games it made the rest of the team lift their game to another level, so when we put everybody back together, it’s perfect.”

He, however, says they won’t give in to complacency.

“I’m always going to complain but I think we did enough tonight — but we always want to keep aspiring to do better and to do more.”

It was a rough experience for St Jago Head Coach Taniel McKenzie but he’s not giving up hope that his team can advance to the quarter-finals.

“I think, despite the result, we continued fighting — and that’s definitely something to build on. We have a lot of work to do; we just need to pick ourselves up, go back to the training field, and get some things right,” he said.

“We have to reflect, be responsible, and hold ourselves accountable for the responsibilities that we’re tasked with. So, it’s about moving forward and improving on what we have.”

Mona lead group pne with three points, with St Jago in fourth without a point. St George’s and Campion will do battle on Saturday in the other group game.

Only the top two from the group will advance to the quarter-finals.

SATURDAY’S GAMES

Eltham vs Excelsior @ G C Foster College – 1:30 pm

Jamaica College vs Calabar @ Stadium East – 2:00 pm

St. George’s College vs Campion @ St George’s – 3:00 pm

Tivoli vs Jonathan Grant @ Jamaica College – 3:00 pm

St Catherine vs Charlie Smith @ G C Foster College – 3:30 pm

Kingston College vs Hydel @ Stadium East – 4:00 pm