Western Bureau:

Champions St James High School started the quarter-final round of the 2009 ISSA/Pepsi Digicel daCosta Cup in impressive style yesterday afternoon when they spanked St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) 3-0 in their Group One game in Santa Cruz.

In what was quite a clinical display, especially in the first half, the Pastor Hugh Solomon-coached St James unit scored through striker Roshane Reid, inspirational mid-field star Ricardo Morris and last year's golden boot winner Allan Ottey. Two goals came in the first half and the other in the second half.

"Our plan was to strike early and silence the home crowd," said Pastor Solomon. "We played with a lot of heart and got goals and that is all we can ask of the players."

early pressure

After soaking up some early pressure from STETHS, St James High took the lead in the 21st minute when Morris curled a brilliant shot past the goalkeeper. Reid made it 2-0 in the 35th minute when he ran on to a long clearance by his goalkeeper and lobbed neatly into the goal. Ottey sealed the issue in the 80th minute when his close range scorcher gave the goalkeeper no chance, making the final score 3-0.

In the other Group One game, newly crowned Ben Francis KO champions Glenmuir High School set up a mouth-watering top-of-the-table clash against the St James High team last Wednesday when they turned in a disciplined performance to beat Frome Technical 2-0 in the feature game of the Jamalco double-header.

Glenmuir, who remain unbeaten in all competitions this season, were not as clinical as coach Patrick 'Jackie' Walters would have hoped but they did well enough to secure victory through goals from Ramon Whittaker and Tajay Campbell.

In the first of the two Group Two games, 2007 champions Garvey Maceo Technical added another chapter to the irresistible form they have been showing since they were reinstated into the inter-zone round with a 2-0 win against Manchester High School in the first game of the Jamalco double-header.

Keniel King and Andrew Vanzie were the players on target for the Jeffrey Hewitt coach Garvey Maceo outfit, which was initially eliminated after the competition's preliminary round but was later reinstated when the original inter-zone qualifiers Old Harbour withdrew for still unexplained reasons.