Rusea's goalscorer Brian Brown (right) is challenged by Cornwall College's captain Oraine Braham in last week's ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel rural-area daCosta Cup schoolboy football league game at Jarrett Park in Montego Bay. The game ended 1-1. - Photo by Adrian Frater

Western Bureau:

With 16 of the 24 competing teams still in with a realistic chance of advancing to the competition's quarter-final round, this afternoon's final phase of inter-zone games in the 2009 ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup should be intriguing and decisive.

While newly crowned Ben Francis champions Glenmuir High School look a reasonably safe bet to get the one point they require against out-of-contention Bog Walk High (0) to take top honours in Group Five, all the other contenders are facing rather stiff challenges.

In Group One, where champions St James High and Frome Technical are joint eaders with four points each, an interesting situation looms. Should St James High beat out-of-contention William Knibb and Frome Technical beat Manning's, both teams will finish on seven points, leaving goal difference to decide the group winner.

Group winners

However, should St James High lose to William Knibb and Frome Technical suffer a similar fate to Manning's (3), the little-fancied Manning's team (3) would emerge as group winners. Interestingly, if St James beat William Knibb and Manning's get by Frome, Manning's could emerge as one of the two best second-place finishers.

In the group's last round of games on Saturday, St James High stormed back into contention with an impressive 3-0 win against Manning's, while Frome clipped William Knibb 3-2 in a hard-fought contest.

In Group Two, it will be the end of the road for former champions Rusea's and Cornwall College if group leaders Marcus Garvey Technical (4) emerge victorious against Cornwall in their game at Drax Hall. However, if Cornwall beat Marcus Garvey and Rusea's beat Grange Hill, the two would finish atop the group on five points each, leaving goal difference to decide the group's winner.

On Saturday, Marcus Garvey played out a 1-1 draw with Rusea's at Jarrett Park, while Cornwall also ended 1-1 against Grange Hill at Frome.

Exciting contest

An exciting contest looms in Group Three where leaders Spaldings High, on six points, will battle second-place Clarendon College (4) for group honours at Kirkvine. A win or draw will give the Spaldings team the coveted slot. However, victory for the Paul 'Tegat' Davis-coached Clarendon College would see them advancing.

In the last round of matches, Spaldings blanked Munro College 2-0 while Clarendon College had a close 2-1 win against Bellefield High.

The situation in Group Four mirrors Group Three, as a win or a draw for group leaders Manchester High (6) over second-place St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS, 4) will see them through to the quarter-final round. However, should St Elizabeth win, they would advance ahead of Manchester.

In their last games, Manchester High were ruthless in a 5-0 troun-cing of Lennon High, while STETHS were somewhat less glamorous in a 1-0 win against Edwin Allen High.

While they only require a single point to top Group Six, leaders Dinthill Technical should have a real task on their hands getting that point against second-place Garvey Maceo (4) on their home turf in St Catherine. While Dinthill had a challenging 4-2 win against Paul Bogle, Garvey Maceo were rampant in their 9-0 mauling of St Mary Technical.