It will be an all Clarendon final in the ISSA daCosta Cup football competition after many time finalists Clarendon College and first time finalists Central High won their semi-finals on a similar 5-4 in a sudden death penalty shootout at the STETHS Sports Complex in Santa Cruz.
Clarendon College and Manning’s School ended 1-1 after regulation time and they were still tied at 4-4 after the first set of penalties, the exact scenario between Central High and Manchester High.
The second game, between Central High and Manchester High, saw the second half being played in poor lighting as the floodlights at the venue proved to be ineffective and left large areas of the field in darkness.
Clarendon College was let off the hook twice by Mannings who led 1-0 at halftime and also led in the penalty shootout before having two of their last three shots saved.
The Westmoreland school took the lead in the 15th minute when Jhamaleek Porter opened the scoring with a shot from just inside the 18 yards box and between three defenders.
Clarendon College drew level early in the second half when Keheim Dixon’s weak header was dropped by Ashwani Campbell in Manning’s goal.
Both teams came close to winning the game in regulation but it went to penalties where Clarendon’s goalkeeper Romeo Daniels save two kicks from Manning’s once in the regular penalties and the one in sudden death to send his team through.
Central who had to pull off an upset win over Edwin Allen in the final game of the quarterfinals to get into the semi-finals, took the lead in the 24th minute when he out-muscled the Manchester High defence and scored from very close range.
After Yarek Carneigie missed a penalty kick in the first half, Nickoy Bartley who was on the field for a few minutes made amends when he scored a second penalty in the 55th minute to bring Manchester High level.
Manchester High blinked first when they missed their fourth kick but Central missed their fifth kick to force sudden death where Central High’s goalkeeper Leon Ricketts saved Tyreese Douglas’ kick and Clarke stepped up to score a historic kick for Central.
