MONTEGO BAY, St James — Three teams won back-to-back games to start the St James Football Association/Sandals Resorts International Under-17 competition, resulting in a three-way tie for first place.

Athletes in Action (AIA), St James High, and Irwin Academy were all winners on Saturday, while Green Pond rebounded from their first-round loss to score their first win.

AIA and St James High are tied on points, goals for and goals against, with Irwin Academy in third place, all on six points, followed by Granville United and Green Pond High on three points. Montego Bay United (MBU), Montego Bay Boys Club and St James Academy are yet to earn a point.

Kevar Stwart and Keanu Gram scored their first goals of the season for St James High to beat Granville United 2-1, with Javaughn Anglin getting Granville’s goal.

Detroy Reid scored a brace and took his tally to three goals as Irwin Academy blanked MBU 2-0 with goals in the 17th and 36th minutes, and Deshaun Talbert’s goal carried AIA to a 1-0 win over Montego Bay Boys Club.

Green Pond scored their first win by outscoring St James Academy 5-4, with Deshaun Barrett and Jerome Whynn both scoring doubles for the winner while Roy Smith also got a brace for St James Academy.

Green Pond led 3-0 at half-time with Whynn scoring in the 12th and 25th minutes after Barrett had given them the lead in the seventh minute.

Renardo Green pulled a goal back for St James in the 46th minute but Garth Bromwell restored Green Pond’s three-goal lead, making the scores 4-1 in the 60th minute. Barrett completed his brace in the 66th minute to push the score to 5-1.

St James scored three times in the final 10 minutes of the 80-minute game to get to within a goal of tying the scores, with Havaton Mendez scoring in the 70th minute and Smith scoring twice in the space of a minute in the 80th plus a minute into time added on.

— Paul A Reid