Denbigh High created school history when they qualified for the semi-finals of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) Ben Francis Cup on Thursday, beating Munro College 3-1 at Manchester High School.

Denbigh High Coach Garfield Carney told the Jamaica Observer they drew inspiration from another history-making school, Ocho Rios High, who qualified for the daCosta Cup semi-finals and the first round of the Champions Cup.

“We saw what they did and we thought ‘why not us as well?’,” Carney said.

Lashawn Barnaby scored twice for Denbigh High and Odane Thompson got the other goal in the win which some saw as an upset. But Denbigh High’s coach Carney said he was not surprised after he saw footage of Garvey Maceo High beating Munro College 3-0 in the daCosta Cup quarter-final round last week.

“We have seen them before and we have studied tapes of them so we knew what to expect. We also watched the game against Garvey Maceo and saw what worked and we just did the same.”

It was the first time the Clarendon-based school was getting into the final four in any ISSA-run Under-19 football competition. They are joined in the Ben Francis Cup last four by former champions Clarendon College, St Elizabeth Technical School (STETHS) and Frome Technical. Those semi-final matches are set for early next week.

Clarendon College beat Central High for the first time this season, 4-3 on penalties after drawing 1-1 in regulation time.

STETHS, who played with 10 men for most of the game, beat Cornwall College 9-8 in sudden death penalties after the teams ended 0-0, while Frome Technical edged Manchester High 1-0.

Cornwall College were hoping lightning would strike twice after previous success in penalty shoot-out, but wasted a handful of quality scoring chances against STETHS at Llandilo Community Centre in Westmoreland.

Cornwall College had beaten Happy Grove High on penalties in the first round and when STETHS’ Kaieem Lewis was sent off in the first half, they were expected to go on to win.

The seven-time former champions, however, wasted a number of chances to score and the game went to penalties. Both teams were perfect through the first five rounds, forcing sudden death at which point the Cornwall College goalkeeper Carlyle Tinglin, the hero against Happy Grove a week earlier, missed his kick.

Uriel Lemphard scored Frome Technical’s winning goal, knocking out Manchester High in their game at STETHS Sports Complex in Santa Cruz. It was Frome’s first win in five games as they returned to the Ben Francis Cup semi-finals in back-to-back seasons.

— Paul Reid

THURSDAY’S RESULTS

•Central High 1 (3), Clarendon 1 (4)

•Frome 1, Manchester 0

•STETHS 0 (9), Cornwall 0 (8)

•Munro 1, Denbigh 3