Charlie Smith High and Jamaica College (JC) scored identical 2-1 wins over Hydel High and Excelsior High to jump to the top of Zone A as the quarterfinal round kicked off at Stadium East on Saturday.

In Zone B, Vauxhall High stunned Calabar High 1-0 at Winchester Park while Eltham High dismissed St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) 4-1 at the Spanish Town Prison Oval and jumped to the top of the group on goal difference.

In the curtain raiser at Stadium East, Charlie Smith came from behind to beat Hydel and even had the luxury of missing a penalty.

Mario Nelson had given Hydel the lead in the 30th minute and seconds later, Sean-John Curchar should have doubled the advantage but hit the upright.

Charlie Smith got a glorious chance to level the score via the penalty spot in the 56th minute but Orlando Grant’s effort was saved by goalkeeper Idrian Robinson, diving to his left per instructions from coach Alex Thomas.

But in the 61st minute, Charlie equalised through an own goal by Damari Bowen and three minutes later, they deservedly turned it around as Neyo Drummond rammed home in the 64th, following a penetrating run from Grant, who made amends following his missed penalty by providing the assist.

Winning coach Eugene Williams of Charlie Smith was full of praise for his team, saying they showed character and rallied from a goal down even after missing a penalty.

“As you realise, if we did put away our chances in the first half, the score wouldn’t be so close,” Williams pointed out.
“As you see how the game progressed, we created numerous [chances]. We all missed a penalty,” he added. “But let me say, we are at a stage of the competition where nothing is going to come easy. Nothing at all.”

Meanwhile, losing coach Alex Thomas thought his team dropped their heads the moment Charlie Smith pulled level and didn’t show enough fight.

“We went up 1-0 but the concentration level in the second half just went down,” Thomas pointed out.

“We never picked it up, the energy level. Charlie Smith came at us and they did what they needed to do to win the game,” said Thomas.

In the feature encounter, JC made early inroads into the Excelsior backline and it was no surprise when they took the lead in the 15th minute courtesy of Jamoy Dennis.

Kimarly Scott pulled Excelsior level on the stroke of halftime, scoring in the 45+3 minute. It was his 17th goal of the season and puts him third in the Golden Boot race behind Deshawn Byfield of KC with 19 and Sean Leighton of Mona on 23.

Both Byfield and Leighton are out of the Manning Cup, so Scott has a glorious chance of topping the leading marksman race as he has at least two more games but could play four more if his team reaches the final.

Duwayne Burger, formerly of KC, found the clincher for JC chesting home Jamone Lyle’s cross at the near post in the 88th minute.