By Paul A. Reid, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
ELEVEN-TIME champions Cornwall College and Holmwood Technical confirmed their places in the quarter-finals of the ISSA Pepsi/ Sports Plus daCosta Cup and Ben Francis Knock Out schoolboys' football competitions after wins in rescheduled Inter-Zone round games yesterday.
Cornwall beat Mannings 3-0 at the Bay Road Sports Complex in Little London, Westmoreland, to top Group One and take the automatic qualifying berth, while Holmwood Technical beat Bellefield High 2-0 to top Group Four.
Both completed their Inter-Zone fixtures with maximum nine points from three wins and joined early qualifiers Frome Technical, Clarendon College, Munro College and Dinthill Technical.
Meanwhile, Garvey Maceo set themselves up for a clash with Titchfield on Thursday for the other automatic place from Group Five after playing to a 1-1 draw with Brimmer Vale yesterday.
The result left Garvey Maceo - semi-finalists last season - on four points, two less than Titchfield which means they must win to advance. The eighth spot, reserved for the second runner-up, will be decided between a number of schools including defending champions Rusea's High who finished their schedule on six points, Ben Francis KO champions Old Harbour which have a game in hand on Thursday, and Seaforth High.
The three games that were not completed on Saturday due to rain and crowd violence will be played on Thursday.
Yesterday at Bay Road, Cornwall got goals from Andre Lee in the 32nd minute, Jahvan Russell in the 59th and Rocky Baronet in the 65th to hand Mannings their sixth straight loss.
It represented a huge transformation for Mannings which started with a bang, winning their first five matches. They had nothing to play for yesterday as they had lost their first two Inter-Zone games by 1-0 margins, but the Sav-la-mar school boys were competitive for the first half as they held Cornwall at bay with a well-managed offside trap.
Despite this Cornwall managed a number of chances but Charles Hines and Lushane Brent-Harris missed easy chances.
Mannings' national youth goalkeeper Dwayne Kerr was also outstanding as he pulled off several good saves to keep his team in the game until Lee got the breakthrough in the 32nd minute, when he twisted and turned his way through the right side of the Mannings defence before beating Kerr with a curling shot inside the far post.
Mannings' defensive ploy seemed to go out the window in the second half and after missing several chances, Cornwall doubled the lead at the 59th minute as Russell was well-placed to head home powerfully from a Francois Anderson right sided cross.
Six minutes later Baronet beat the offside trap and gave Kerr no chance with a well-placed shot into the left corner of the goal.
