BY PAUL A REID Observer Writer – Wednesday, November 21, 2012
FROME, Westmoreland — Former champions St Elizabeth Technical High (STETHS) and Glenmuir High need only a point each to advance to the semi-finals of the ISSA/Gatorade/Digicel daCosta Cup as the quarter-finals come to an end today
Both schools lead their respective groups after two sets of games, while the other six teams will battle for the remaining two places in Saturday’s semi-finals in what is expected to be a fascinating final round of games in this round.
STETHS will face Mannings School at the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex in Santa Cruz, while long shots Garvey Maceo, the 2007 champions, will face Cedric Titus at Jamalco in Group A.
STETHS lead with six points; Mannings and Cedric Titus are both on three, while Garvey are yet to score a point.
Glenmuir High lead Group B with four points and will face Frome Technical at the Frome Sports Complex, while Manchester High and Bog Walk meet at Kirkvine.
Both Frome and Bog Walk are on three points, while Manchester are on one point. Wins for both STETHS and Glenmuir would open the door for slow-starting Garvey Maceo and Manchester, as they could advance to the semi-finals with last-ditch efforts against two schools that have never been this close to a place in the top four prior to this.
Cedric Titus and Bog Walk will have their destinies in their hands and if they can continue their revival after earlier losses, could create history.
Cedric Titus won for the first time in the quarter-finals on Saturday, coming from behind to beat Mannings, 2-1, at Drax Hall, and a point today would be good enough, provided Mannings lose.
After back-to-back disappointments and earning just one point, Manchester will have ‘territorial’ advantage over Bog Walk, but must make their familiarity with Kirkvine count if they are to salvage anything from the season which promised so much early.
After winning their first two games by a 6-1 aggregate, STETHS, the Ben Francis KO champions, are virtually into the semi-finals as they could lose to Mannings and still advance as the group winners.
The Omar Wedderburn-coached team will no doubt be gunning to extend their winning run to eight games in the daCosta Cup, and this would leave the door wide open for Cedric Titus to qualify for their first ever semi-final berth.
Glenmuir have come on strong since the start of the Inter-zone round, scoring 17 goals and conceding two in just five games so far, with Xhane Reid leading the way with five goals and Newton Henry and Andre Scott both getting four each.
Today, the Frome defence that gave up two goals to Bog Walk on Saturday will have their hands full trying to stop the most prolific offence left in the competition.
Today’s schedule:
Garvey Maceo vs Cedric Titus @ Jamalco
Steths vs Mannings @ Steths
Frome vs Glenmuir High @ Frome
Manchester vs Bog Walk @ Kirkvine.
All games start at 3:00 pm
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Fierce-battles-for-D-Cup-semis_13053049#ixzz2Cri21Uik
