The National Stadium is set to buzz with excitement as Jamaica College (JC) and Excelsior High battle for the ISSA Manning Cup title — the supremacy of urban schoolboy football.

The grand finale pits two schools on varying missions but one destiny as both seek to create their own unique history.

Based on the crest of both schools, it’s the battle between JC’s Griffin and Excelsior’s Eagle.

The Griffin is a mythical creature with a body, tail, and hind legs of a lion combined with the head, wings, and front talons of an eagle. The Griffin looks unbeatable and should prove too hot to handle for the conventional eagle. But in reality, the match will be won on the field of play.

Jamaica College, formed in 1795, not surprisingly, are the most successful urban football school with 28 Manning Cups. They will be aiming for a record-extending 29th lien since the competition started in 1914.

History will show that JC won the Sydney Olivier Inter Scholastic Challenge Trophy in 1909, 1910, and 1913, contested by the urban teams and one Potsdam College (Munro College) from St Elizabeth.

But in 2014 enter the William Manning Cup named in honour of the then governor of Jamaica and was contested strictly between urban teams, with the winner challenging Potsdam for the Olivier Shield.

Jamaica College, St George’s College, Wolmer’s Boys’, Calabar High, and New College were the first five teams to contest the Manning Cup. However, New College withdrew, leaving the four schools to battle in a league format, with the winner decided by points.

With that said, the unbeaten JC are firm favourites to win yet another title, although they will have to be at their best to thwart the challenge of Excelsior. JC boast a 2-1 win over Excelsior in the quarter-final round in what was a hard-fought match.

The JC juggernaut is one of the most well-oiled, well-balanced teams in the last decade, with the likes of Jabarie Howell, Duwayne Burgher, Jamone Lyle, Jamoy Dennis, Keshaun-Lee Chin, Dontae Logan, Donald Stewart, and Devonte Allen forming a seemingly impregnable unit.

In Howell, JC have arguably the best player in schoolboy football, and in Stewart, one of the best defenders. Stewart’s father, Donald Sr, also played for JC and is now a part of the school’s coaching staff.

It remains a mystery as to why national Under-20 invitee Giovanni Taylor, the son of former national striker Fabian Taylor, is not in the JC squad. He has a couple of goals for Arnett Gardens in the Jamaican Premier League.

JC have gone from strength to strength and seem to be peaking at the right time after stuttering in the second round with 2-2 results against Mona High and Eltham High and a 2-1 win over St Jago High.

But JC stepped up the pace in the quarter-finals, clipping Excelsior and dismissing Charlie Smith High (4-0) and Hydel High (5-0). They then impressively whipped St Andrew Technical 4-0 in the semi-final.

Head coach Raymond “Stampy” Watson says JC are playing the best brand of football seen in a long while.

“[We’re] definitely happy to be in the final. Last year we came to the semi-finals and we didn’t make it into the final, so that’s one step, now we’re one step closer to the final,” Watson told the Jamaica Observer.

“In terms of mood and in the camp, we are very happy, we are relaxed. We are prepared to come and play. We’re not thinking about the final, actually, we’re not thinking about the opponents. Let them think about us. Just like the opponents before them and those before, let them think about us. We don’t have any time to think about anybody,” Watson pointed out.

“Everybody has been watching our Jamaica College plays. We just play. We just believe in what we are doing and we just keep on playing. It will be a joy. We really need this trophy. It’s very important to us collectively as a unit and the entire Jamaica College family,” he noted.

Watson said their 2-1 win over Excelsior counts for nothing at this point.

“This is now where something is on the line. The last time it was three points, now it’s the ultimate prize, so we know what they can do. They are a quality team and we’re just practically going to focus on us. Focus on our strengths and where we have weaknesses,” he added.

Meanwhile, Excelsior is aiming to end a 21-year drought, having last won in 2004 and hunting their eighth lien on the cup they first won in 1953.

The Mountain View Avenue-based school, which was formed in 1931, further won in 1969, 1980, 1989, 1993, 2003, and 2004.

Excelsior, under the tutelage of Head Coach Keon Broderick, have reached their first final in 19 years. Back then they lost to Bridgeport High in the 2006 showdown.

They are back with a team comprising players that lost the 2024 Walker Cup final to Mona and the Under-16 final to STATHS, making this unit one talented and hungry bunch, craving success.

Excelsior will be depending on the crafty Kimarly Scott, who has 19 goals to his name, — only behind Sean Leighton of Mona with 23 goals. Just like Howell, Scott has a legitimate claim to be the MVP of the season.

Scott is to be ably assisted by Terrence Williams, Damarly Williams, Kivann Salmon, Shamarie Chambers, Nicwayne Patrick, Rojawn Small, and Tristan Bethune.

The match-up could bring to the fore some intriguing battles with talented players all across the pitch on both teams, making this one of the most anticipated schoolboy football finals in years.

Broderick oozed confidence as he aims to bring glory to an institution steeped in Jamaica’s schoolboy football history.

“We are really excited about playing in a final, first and foremost, when you’ve gone 19 years without playing in a final and 21 years without the Manning Cup title. It’s only due to the hard work of the coaching staff and the boys of the Manning Cup team,” said Broderick.

“As it relates to how we are going to approach the game, we will decide on that, but it’s for us to be very flexible within the game,” he explained.

“The coaching staff of JC and Excelsior, we are very familiar with what both coaching staff like to do, so it’s for us to be flexible. We are going in with a plan in how we defend and how we want to attack, but I mean things might not go the way we want it,” he added.

“Whenever those goalscoring opportunities come, we want to capitalise on them and limit the amount JC gets. We are really excited about this finals,” said Broderick.

Will Excelsior be lifting their eighth Manning Cup or JC their 29th? Only time will tell, but JC will start favourites, and rightly so, which means Excelsior will have to perform nearly perfectly if they are to win.

WATSON… just like the opponents before them and those before, let them think about us (Photo: Observer file)

BRODERICK… it’s for us to be very flexible within the game (Photo: Observer file)

Mona High goalkeeper Howard Robinson (left) gets to the ball ahead of Jamaica College’s Keshaun-Lee Chin during the ISSA Manning Cup football match at Stadium East on December 3, 2025. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

Jamal Williams (left) of Tivoli Gardens High challenges Kimarly Scott of Excelsior High during the ISSA Manning Cup football match at Excelsior High on December 2, 2025. (Photo: Naphtali Junior)