Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

Reigning Manning Cup champions Jamaica College created history at Jarrett Park, Montego Bay, on Saturday night when they scored a 2-1 penalty shoot-out win over Garvey Maceo to win the inaugural Linkz96 FM inaugural 20/20 schoolboy football competition.

By virtue of their win in the 12-team competition, the Alfred Henry-coached Jamaica College took home the Linkz96 FM Trophy and $100,000 first-prize money. The Garvey Maceo team, which looked the one to beat during the preliminaries, pocketed $30,000 for the second-place finish.

Encouraging performance

"This performance is most encouraging when you consider that we have lost a number of players and are now rebuilding," said Henry. "This is really a big confidence builder ahead of the upcoming schoolboy season."

On their way to the title, JC defeated Frome Technical 2-1 on penalties and drew 0-0 with St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) to advance from the quarter-final as one of the two best second-place finishers. In the semi-final, they ran into STETHS for a second time and edged them 6-5 on penalties.

Garvey Maceo had back-to-back 2-0 wins against St James High and Petersfield in the quarter-final round before scoring a 2-1 penalty shoot-out win over Rusea's to book their place in the final.

In the final, Garvey Maceo created the better chances but JC were quite resolute in defence, resulting in a 0-0 draw at the end minutes of the 20 minutes of regulation time play. In the penalty shoot-out, JC scored two of their three spot kicks through Adrian Christian and Nico Wright, while Darren McLeod was the only player on target for Garvey Maceo.

Medals

In the presentation ceremony, which followed the final, members of the JC team were presented with gold medals, while Garvey Maceo got silver medals. JC's Geovanni Gordon was adjudged the tournament's Top Goalkeeper, while Garvey Maceo took the other three sectional prizes - Shawn Fogah, Top Defender; Richard Allen, Top Midfielder; and Mikhail Howell, Top Striker.

Former national goalkeeper, Warren Barrett, who led the Reggae Boyz to their historic participation in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, was presented with Linkz96 FM's Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to national football.