Head coach at Excelsior High Keon Broderick says his team is determined to put their high-profile mistake behind them as they continue their ISSA Manning Cup title defence.

Excelsior booked their spot in the round of 16 on Wednesday with an emphatic 6-0 win over Holy Trinity at the Mountain View-based school, with Damarley Williams leading the way with a hat-trick.

The defending champions went into the contest with six less points after governing body ISSA, on Monday, charged them with fielding an ineligible player. It meant that they forfeited their previous second-round wins in Group 2 against St Jago and Calabar, while also losing their spot in the all-island knockout competition, the Champions Cup.

Broderick says he was pleased with the team’s dominant showing after a difficult 48 hours.

“It’s the three points that we wanted based on what would have happened earlier this week,” he said. “I think credit must be given to the boys in how they played the game. We asked them to play as simple as possible, and they did that. We asked them to score as many goals as possible, and they would have achieved that as well.”

Broderick says the school had no intention to cheat and hopes to move past the controversy as quickly as possible.

“We at Excelsior pride ourselves on our student-athletes and the development of the student-athletes, especially the holistic development. In no way, shape, or form did we want to gain an unfair advantage.”

“It’s just that we could have done a little bit better in terms of doing the due diligence in checking and applying all the relevant information in the situation, but in no way, shape, or form we wanted to gain an unfair advantage, and it would have been evident in the way we were remorseful in what we did and we accept the responsibility…we’re moving on from that.”

Norman Manley took the last automatic spot in the group with a 1-0 win over St Jago, who had already qualified, along with Calabar.

In group 3, former champions St George’s College and Tivoli joined STATHS and Kingston College (KC) in the next round and in Group 1. Former champions Camperdown and Wolmer’s also secured their spots, joining St Catherine High and Jamaica College (JC).