By Paul A. Reid, Senior Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
SAN JACINTO College of Houston, Texas, will seek their first National Junior College Athletic Association's (NJCAA) football title next week when they participate in the eight-team tournament to be held in Tyler, Texas, and three Jamaicans will be leading the charge.
Former Cornwall College daCosta Cup players Garnett Chisholm, Garrick Gordon and DeShawn Woolery are the top scorers for the team this season, combining for more than 30 goals so far.
Chisholm, who started his daCosta Cup career playing defence and also played that position for Violet Kickers in the National A League, leads the team with 13 goals and 14 assists, Woolery is next with 12 goals and eight assists while Gordon, who was injured during the season, has scored seven goals and 10 assists.
All three had outstanding daCosta Cup careers at Cornwall under coach Dr. Dean Weatherly. Chisholm captained the team in 1999 and played on the winning team in 2000 that was captained by Gordon.
Gordon and Woolery were members of the team last year which won the all-island schoolboy triple, the daCosta and Ben Francis KO and the Olivier Shield.
Chisholm and Woolery also played on the 1998 team that lost to Clarendon College in the final at Jarrett Park.
Chisholm is in his second and final year at the two-year school while Woolery and Gordon are in their first.
Chisholm, an All-American last season and who, according to coach Ben Hunter, is usually marked by up to three defenders led the team with 19 goals last season - tied for second place in the school's history, behind Fernando Castellanos who scored 26 in 1999.
Hunter told The Gleaner the Jamaican trio is "the backbone of our team. We have a good team around them but without them we would not be nearly as good".
The team, nicknamed 'Coyotes', were 13-4-2 overall and won the Regional Championships, the Mid-southwest District Championship, beating former No. 1 ranked team Tyler Junior College 2-1 with Woolery scoring the winner and Chisholm getting both assists.
Hunter said he was "looking forward to the tournament and as far as next season I hope to replace Garnett with another Montego Bay player.
"Garnett has many offers to attend other institutions for his last two seasons of competition and he is leaning towards Midwestern State in Wichita Falls, Texas."
