Jamaica College crowned themselves the undisputed kings of urban youth football with a double victory over Kingston College in the ISSA/Burger King sponsored Under-14 and Under-16 finals played at Stadium East on Wednesday.

For JC’s Under-14 Head Coach Wayne Palmer, who was winning his 16th title with the team, including All-Island wins, this after returning from a two-year hiatus due to medical reasons, said he was extremely proud of his team’s progress over the course of the season.

“Honestly, at the start of the season, it was a little rocky but as a coach we have to get the youngsters to understand what is needed, it’s always a learning stage. Going through the season, we rallied the troops along with the supporting staff and we managed to pull everything together,” said Palmer.

With both teams entering the contest having not lost a game all season and drawing their quarter-final showdown 0-0 earlier in the campaign, it was clear that this would be another close encounter between the old foes.

An even first half produced little in the way of clear-cut chances, but it didn’t take long in the second half for the fireworks to begin.

KC talisman Owayne Feautado had been a threat throughout the contest, but often let himself down with poor decisions and selfish play. He, however, made up for the frustrations in the 46th minute when another of his marauding runs ended up with him working his way into the penalty box and finishing with class from a tight angle to give the 2024 champions the advantage.

It, however, didn’t take long for JC to get on level terms when Namar Francis latched on to an error from KC goalkeeper Jahbari Williams in the 51st minute to regain parity. It was the first time that KC conceded a goal for the entire season.

Neither team was able to find a winner and it was down to the dreaded penalty shootout to determine the destination of the title.

In the end, JC fared better, coming out on top 4-3 in the shootout to return the trophy to Old Hope Road.

JC’s Dashaun Smith was named Man-of-the-Match.

“We put everything into this game. When we were 1-nil down, honestly, I knew we had enough time to get back into the game, we were not worried. I told the boys before the match that this is the last game of the competition and we need to give it everything,” said Palmer.

JC secured the clean sweep when their Under-16 team produced a slight surprise, getting the better of pregame favourites Kingston College 2-1 with goals from Tevin Savage (11th minute) and Emanuel Donalds (80+4). Davion Clarke (80+6) got a late consolation for KC who could not repeat their 1-0 victory over JC earlier this season.

Head coach Raymond Watson welcomed the victory pointed to preparation as a key reason behind their victory.

“We did our homework and based on what we did against them the last game, I thought they would have come and done the same thing,” said Watson. “I was quietly confident we would have won the game.”

JC will now turn their attention to the All-Island showdown with the respective rural area champions set for next Wednesday at a venue to be confirmed. The rural area final was scheduled to take place yesterday with Garvey Maceo facing William Knibb in the Under-14 showdown and Glenmuir tackling Cornwall College in the Under-16 final.

Meanwhile, ISSA President Keith Wellington said he was pleased that they were able to complete the season, which had to be pushed back due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa days before its original start date.

Wellington said the youth football competitions play a critical role in unearthing and developing talent for the island’s youth teams and play a big role in the participant’s overall development.

“I’m very happy that we were able to complete the season. I think that one of the worse things that can happen to kids is for them to miss out on opportunities that they are looking forward to. This particular group of kids would have gone through two traumatic experiences in their short life, meaning COVID and Melissa and so we don’t necessarily want to do anything that is going to be disruptive to them again,” said Wellington, who is also principal at St Elizabeth Technical.

“I’m happy that we were able to have this competition and from a football perspective, we note that the national Under-17s just qualified for the World Cup. We know that the Under-15s won the Concacaf tournament last year and we don’t want to stop that sort of development and we’re really happy that Burger King came on-board this year and supported us in ensuring that this competition was held,” he added.