Adrian Frater, New Editor
WESTERN BUREAU:
CORNWALL COLLEGE and St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) will renew their fierce rivalry this afternoon when they meet in the second semi-final of the 2005 Ben Francis KO competition at Jarrett Park at 3:30 p.m.
The winner of this afternoon's game will meet defending champions Glenmuir High School in the final. Glenmuir booked their place in the final yesterday when they swamped Happy Grove 8-1 in their semi-final game at Wembley in Clarendon.
Based on their preliminary round showing in the daCosta Cup, which saw Cornwall College topping the competitive Zone A ahead of Herbert Morrison and STETHS edging out Munro College for Zone E honours, this contest should be a keenly contested one.
"We have been doing extremely well in all competitions this season and, as a result, we are quite confident in our ability to get the type of results we want from this game," said STETHS coach Kurt Brooks, who guided the team to a 2-1 win over DeCarteret and 1-0 win over much-vaunted Frome Technical in their previous two Ben Francis KO assignments.
DIFFICULT GAME
With just one defeat in 10 games all season and with top players Renario Downswell, Dane Isaacs, Jermaine West, Kedar Shaw and goalkeeper Montrose Phinn all in top form, STETHS should be flushed with confidence and could well make it a very difficult game in Cornwall College's backyard.
Like STETHS, the Cornwall College team, which needed all of three games to win its place ahead of Godfrey Stewart in the semi-finals, must be a tired team after its unplanned trilogy. However, according to coach Dr. Dean Weatherly, confidence is still quite high despite the three games in six days against Godfrey Stewart.
The original fixture at Jarrett Park ended prematurely due to a power outage, the first replayed game at Rusea's was aborted because of crowd trouble and it took a third game at Munro, which Cornwall College won 2-1, to produce a winner.
"It has been quite taxing for the players and I know it will take a lot of motivation to get them ready for STETHS," said Weatherly. "The boys are fully aware of the great rivalry between us and STETHS which dates back to the days of Allie McNab (Cornwall) and Edwin Alcock (STETHS), so I am sure they will rise to the occasion."
With just one defeat all season, Cornwall College will be gunning to make today's game a positive addition to their season. In fact, with talent such as the wily Edward Campbell, skipper Omroy Wilson, Andre Lee and goalkeeper Tedroy Watson, they should be more than a handful for STETHS.
