ST JAMES, Jamaica— Cornwall College’s hopes of advancing past the first round of the ISSA daCosta Cup took a massive blow on Friday when they were beaten 2-1 by Maldon High in the Zone A game played at Maldon.

Cornwall College were losing back-to-back games in the first round for the first time in at least nine years while Maldon High won back-to-back games for the first time since 2017, the last time they beat Cornwall.

Kevin Hawthorne and Jordan Bartley scored for Maldon while Braxton Richards scored for Cornwall College who dropped to fourth in Zone A, stuck on six points from five games.

Irwin High leads with maximum 12 points, two more than Green Pond, who beat Anchovy High 3-1, followed by Maldon High on seven points.

Meanwhile, Rusea’s High rebounded from their loss to Frome Technical on Tuesday with a big 5-0 drubbing of Merlene Ottey High in Zone B with goals from Raheim Lowe, Eric Norman, Tajay McIntyre, Deonjay Brown and Dameni Gordon.

Green Island were also winners, beating Hopewell High 4-1.

Holmwood Technical opened a six-point lead in Zone G after their 3-0 win over Alston High, improving to 11 points while York Castle and Oracabessa stayed first and second respectively in Zone I with wins over Ocho Rios High and Marcus Garvey Technical.

Friday’s Games

Zone A

Green Pond- 3, Anchovy- 1

Maldon- 2, Cornwall -1

Zone B

Green Island-4, Hopewell -1

Merlene Ottey- 0, Rusea’s- 5

Zone C

Cedric Titus vs Muschett @Cedric Titus- Rained out

Spot Valley- 1, Herbert Morrison-1

Zone F

Belair vs Bellefield @Belair- rained out

Manchester vs Mt St Joseph @ Manchester -rained out

Zone G

Alston - 0, Holmwood- 3

Zone I

Marcus Garvey- 1, Oracabessa- 2

York Castle - 5, Ocho Rios - 0

Paul A Reid