Four former champions- Cornwall College, Frome Technical, Rusea’s High and Glenmuir High booked their spots in the round of 16 of the ISSA daCosta Cup football competition after Wednesday’s return legs of the second round.
Ten schools made progress on Wednesday, joining the six from Tuesday’s first set of games for the round of 16 that starts on Saturday as William Knibb Memorial, Manchester High, Edwin Allen, Paul Bogle High, Central High and Christiana High also booked their spot.
Cornwall College overturned a 1-2 first round loss to beat Vere Technical 5-3 on penalty kicks after winning 2-1 on Wednesday for a 3-3 aggregate.
It was the second time in days that the 12-time champions had made an escape and avoided an early end to their season after grabbing a second chance when Maldon High failed in their bid for a first ever qualification.
After wasting several early chances to take the lead in the first half, Cornwall College left it late with Braxton Richards scoring in the 71st and 77th minutes to give them the edge.
There would be another twist as Rajaun Bisasor pulled one back for Vere Technical in time added on as the teams ended 3-3 after 180 minutes forcing the penalty shootout tiebreaker.
Thirteen year old Cornwall College goalkeeper Carlyle Tingling with only two starts prior stepped up and saved the first Vere Tech attempt, setting the pace for his teammates to do their part.
At Glenmuir, David Reid scored four goals as the former winners swamped Tacky High 8-0 for a 10-1 aggregate; Frome Technical beat Titchfield High 3-1 with goals from Stevaughn Spence, Javel Clarke and Akeem Kangol while Cardiff McKenzie scored one for Titchfield as the former champs cruised to a 6-1 aggregate.
Deonjay Brown and Shamour Smith scored first half goals for Rusea’s High as they saw off first timers Belair High 2-0 for a 4-0 aggregate and Irwin High, the other first time qualifier lost 1-0 at home to Central High to lose 4-1 on aggregate.
William Knibb extended their unbeaten run to 12 games and are yet to concede a goal as they edged Petersfield High 1-0 at Drax Hall with Mark Lewis scoring in the 59th minute.
Ben Francis KO holders Edwin Allen also advanced with a 3-0 aggregate win over McGrath High, Paul Bogle advanced ahead of Cedric Titus while Manchester High also breezed past BB Coke 3-1 on aggregate after winning 2-0 on Wednesday.
