FIVE former champions are set to kick off the season as the new-look ISSA daCosta Cup football competition gets underway with 25 games. Herbert Morrison Technical, Rusea’s High, Frome Technical, Munro College and Vere Technical are among the teams slated to feature.

In their bid to improve the quality of the competition the organisers have opted for a reduced first round that will see the top 15 schools from last season sitting out this stage. In the first round, teams will face each other once, with the top two from each group advancing to the second round.

The new format will, however, discard the traditional rivalries that have been part of the competition for decades, with the exception of Zones H and I which will have the usual adversaries clashing in the first round.

Rusea’s High and Munro College, who are under the supervision of highly touted technical outfits, will think they have a lot to prove after falling well short of their objectives last season.

Frome Technical may consider themselves unlucky while Herbert Morrison Technical and Vere Technical have fallen down the pecking order for a number of years.

Rusea’s, who will open their season away to Little London who won one of their eight games last season, have brought in the Craig Butler-led Phoenix Group in an attempt to take them back to the top.

Rusea’s High failed to get past the second round last year, after topping a competitive Zone B, and they will be expected to start favourites to advance.

Munro College completed a good preseason under the guidance of the Rudolph Speid-led Cavalier FC technical staff. They defeated long-time rivals Cornwall College 3-1 in their preseason Jackson Shield game last weekend, after they had beaten Manning Cup team St George’s College 3-0.

Last week, Head Coach Everdeen Scarlett told the
Jamaica Observer their first goal was to get past the first round, after they stumbled last year and failed to advance.

Munro will be away to Lacovia High, who had held them to a 2-2 result last year.

Cambridge High goalkeeper Daniel Reid claims the ball under pressure from Frome Technical’s Javounnie Whyte during the ISSA daCosta Cup Zone B football match at Jarrett Park on September 13, 2025.

Frome Technical were edged out on goal difference in their second-round group, finishing on six points with Cornwall College and Kemps Hill High, both of whom had better goal differences.

Frome will be away to Grange Hill, who are returning after a break from the competition.

— Paul A Reid

SATURDAY’S GAMES

Spot Valley vs Cambridge @ Spot Valley

Green Pond vs Irwin @ Green Pond

Muschett vs Herbert Morrison @ Muschett

Knockalva vs Green Island @ Knockalva

Little London vs Rusea’s @ Little London

Rusea’s High’s Shamour Smith (left) gets past Belair High’s Tariq Pitter during the ISSA daCosta Cup football match at Collin Miller Sports Complex in Lucea in October 2022.

Petersfield vs Hopewell @ Petersfield

Grange Hill vs Frome @ Grange Hill

Walkerswood vs Brown’s Town @ Drax Hall

Discovery Bay vs Marcus Garvey @ Port Rhodes

Cedric Titus vs Ferncourt @ Cedric Titus

Lewisville vs Mount St Joseph @ Lewisville

Lacovia vs Munro @ Lacovia

Belair vs Black River @ Brooks Park

deCarteret vs BB Coke @ deCarteret

Cross Keys vs Winston Jones @ Cross Keys High

Porus vs Bellefield @ Porus

May Day vs Mile Gully @ May Day High

Foga Road vs Vere @ Foga Road

Troy vs Claude McKay @ Troy High

Knox vs Edwin Allen @ Kirkvine

Alston vs Alphansus Davis @ Holmwood

Morant Bay vs Happy Grove @ Morant Bay

Fair Prospect vs Robert Lightbourne @ Fair Prospect

Yallahs vs Paul Bogle @ Yallahs