Fireworks are expected this afternoon as seven schools, including defending champions Garvey Maceo High, will chase four remaining spots to the quarter-finals of the ISSA daCosta Cup football competition.

St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), Clarendon College and Dinthill Technical are yet to secure safe passage through to the next round of the competition.

Many-time champions Cornwall College and Christiana High will meet to decide the winners of Zone 1, while Glenmuir High from Zone 3 and McGrath High from Zone 4 are already through to the next round which is scheduled to kick off on Friday.

William Knibb Memorial High, Old Harbour High, Maggotty High and Manning’s School — all without a point so far in this round — will contest the first round of the Ben Francis Cup, set to start on December 11.

There will be a few interesting match-ups today with the top-of-the-zone clash between STETHS and Ocho Rios High at Drax Hall leading the list.

Mathematics will be at play in Zone 2 where STETHS, who have won their first two games comfortably, have one foot into the next zone. They could lose by a wide margin to Ocho Rios and still advance.

STETHS hold a beefy goal-difference of six, while Ocho Rios are on three points with a negative-one goal-difference. Kemps Hill are also on three points both with a negative-two differential.

Kemps Hill, who will face out-of-contention Old Harbour could sneak into the quarter-finals with a win but that will depend on the result at Drax Hall.

Ocho Rios had appeared well set to advance before they were ambushed 2-4 by Kemps Hill on Saturday.

Ocho Rios High have scored 71 goals this season and will have little choice but to take the game to STETHS who have only conceded five times in 14 games.

Kemps Hill, who should be back to full strength, will also have it all to play for against Old Harbour who have exceeded expectations to get to the final 16.

A point would be good enough for Garvey Maceo, who will be meeting Glenmuir High for the third time this season. Garvey Maceo lost the first game 0-4, but rallied to win 3-2 in the first-round play-offs on their way to topping the zone.

A win for Glenmuir High would, however, open the door for Clarendon College, who will be away to out-of-contention Maggotty High.

After narrowly losing zone games to Glenmuir and Garvey Maceo, Maggotty High are not expected to be pushovers.

Dinthill, who are facing McGrath High for the third time this season, will advance with a draw. That result would see two of the most impressive starters in the competition, Manchester High and Manning’s School, fail to get past the round of 16.

Dinthill Technical, who beat Manning’s 2-1 and then drew with Manchester High, had shared the spoils with McGrath High in the first round, each team winning at home. That trend that would favour Dinthill.

Manchester High, who are third in Zone 4 on one point, are set to travel to Manning’s School in a match-up between schools with similar trajectories this season.

Both dominated their first-round groups, Manchester High scoring a record 76 goals in 10 games, while Mannings notched 47 without conceding in eight outings.

They then advanced from the round of 32 as runners-up with records of two wins and a draw before finally losing in the third round.

Manchester High will hope for a win for McGrath High against their zone rivals and hope they can be the first to beat Manning’s at home this season.

Meanwhile, in St James, both qualifiers Cornwall College and Christiana High, who are meeting for the first time in years, will hope for a win that would see them top the group.

Cornwall College have a slight edge, leading on goal-difference which means a draw would be enough for them.

— Paul A Reid

TUESDAY’S GAMES

Cornwall vs Christiana @ Cornwall College

Old Harbour vs Kemps Hill @ Wembley Centre

Ocho Rios vs STETHS @ Drax Hall Complex

Maggotty vs Clarendon @ STETHS Complex

Glenmuir vs Garvey Maceo @ Glenmuir High

Manning’s vs Manchester @ Llandilo Complex

Dinthill vs McGrath @ Dinthill Technical

(Games set to begin at 3:00 pm)