Defending champions Edwin Allen High will meet outgoing daCosta Cup champions Garvey Maceo High in one of four quarter-final games in the ISSA/WATA Ben Francis Cup this afternoon.

Edwin Allen High are one of four teams that joined the competition after they were knocked out of the daCosta Cup competition at the quarter-final stages and includes Frome Technical, William Knibb Memorial and Dinthill Technical.

Glenmuir High will take on Frome Technical in May Pen, York Castle and Dinthill Technical will meet at Drax Hall and Rusea’s High and William Knibb Memorial will square off at the Colin Miller Sports Complex in Lucea.

With a semi-final spot at stake, the games are expected to be competitive as the teams all seek to end the season on a high after missing out on the more lucrative daCosta Cup.

After having seen their offence grind to a halt after the second round of the daCosta Cup, Garvey Maceo showed signs of revival after beating Cornwall College 3-1 in the first round and faces an Edwin Allen team that has been inconsistent over their last four games.

Edwin Allen are coming off a 2-0 loss to Central High in their crucial daCosta Cup quarter-final game and must rebound today if they are to continue the defence of the title.

Glenmuir High, five-time winners of the competition, knocked out Paul Bogle High last week and will take on a Frome Technical team that has not won a game since November 2 when they beat Rusea’s High 1-0 and are winless over their last four games where they have scored just one goal and conceded 10.

After another promising start, winning their first 12 games, Dinthill Technical has once again flattered to deceive, coming up short at the quarter-finals in the daCosta Cup, losing two of their three games.

Today they will get the chance to advance to a semi-final but will face a York Castle team that will be hungry for a first-ever title and who are coming off a win over six-time Ben Francis champions St Elizabeth Technical at the same venue last week.

The game at the Collin Miller Complex could be an interesting one as Rusea’s High showed some spark last week with a big 5-1 win over Christiana High.

The win came at a very high cost however, as Terome Morgan suffered a broken leg and will miss the rest of the season and the Rusea’s coaching staff will hope his presence will not be missed.

William Knibb will be hoping to snap a four games winless run dating back to their final game in the round of 16 and have been on a free fall since the end of the first round.

After scoring 49 goals in eight games in the first round, 37 against Herbert Morrison and Muschett High, the goals have dried up for William Knibb and have scored four goals in the next eight games while conceding seven in their last six games.

Their form this year mirrored the previous season when they won their first-round group then lost all three games in the next round and were out of the competition.

William Knibb’ loss of form seems to coincide with that of their top striker Mark Lewis who has been coming off the bench in their last few games and it will be seen if Coach Dewight Jeremiah will reinstate him to the starting team today.

Rusea’s High, who won the last of their four Ben Francis Cup titles 27 years ago in 1996, will look to Shamour Smith to get the goals today along with Deonjay Brown and Jerrome Williams.