Western Bureau - THE Pepsi/Sports Plus 2000 schoolboy football season will kick-off this afternoon in Montego Bay with the competition's official opening ceremony and a triple-header featuring two daCosta Cup and one Manning Cup game.
"We are expecting an afternoon of good football and the usual good support from the sports-loving public in the west," said Elroy Rickettes, an official of the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA).
In the games down for contention, daCosta Cup champions St. Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) will oppose Munro College at 1:30 p.m; Manning Cup champions Tivoli Gardens will battle Wolmers at 3:30 p.m; and 5:30 p.m., Cornwall College and St. James High will clash in a Montego Bay derby.
Despite losing the bulk of last year's winning team, STETHS will be gunning to upstage old rivals Munro in their Zone E curtain raiser. However, the Munro team, which drew 1-1 with Cornwall College in their recent Jackson Shield game, in Montego Bay, will also be aiming to make a winning start.
"Our goal is to get past the quarter-final round and then take it from there," said STETHS' coach Kanhai Senior, who thinks his chances of retaining the title would have been very good had he retained the services of last year's goalkeeper Kirk Brooks.
"Brooks is still at school but he cannot play because of ISSA's policy on repeating."
In their victory, the new look STETHS team, which registered 2-1 and 3-1 wins against St. Elizabeth's champion Foster Youths and Vere Technical in recent practice games, will be banking on the likes of captain Andre Jarrett, Gregory Tape, George Wisdom, Jason Miller, Dane Johnson, Sebastien Campbell and Bryan Miller.
Munro who failed to make it past the first round last year, will be hoping for a much improved season this time around. Coach Neil Harrison is gunning for a win.
"Our recent record against STETHS has not been good but we are quite optimistic that we will do well in this game," said a confident Harrison, whose team has identical 2-0 wins against Jamaica College and Edwin Allen in recent practice games.
Harrison's bid for a winning start to the season is expected to revolve around goalkeeper Marlon Edwards, top defenders Kenroy Blake and Copeland Lewis; midfielders Orane Barrett and Joseph Bennett; and striker Kevin Holmes.
The Montego Bay derby between nine times champions Cornwall College and St. James High (formerly Montego Bay Comprehensive) promises to be an epic affair. The teams traded exciting 1-0 results last season and indications are that they are currently highly motivated to lock horns again this year.
Cornwall College, which have retained 18 members of last year's 20-man squad, are brimming with confidence.
"We have a fairly good unit and we are quite optimistic about our chances of doing well," said Dr. Dean Weatherley, who coached the Cornwall College team to the title in 1995.
While coach Weatherley will be emphasising a team approach this season, he is expecting that seasoned campaigners Deshawn Wollery, Dwayne Richards and Garnet Chisholm to do well.
Following a fabulous debut season, which saw them making it to the inter-zone round, St. James High will be hoping for an even better season this year.
While they will be adopting a 'one game at a time approach', the team's technical director Gavin Edmond said they are aiming to improve on last year's performance.
"Our aim will be to take three points from every game in the first round and that should guarantee us a place in the second round," said the confident Edmond.
In their bid to improve on last year's performance, St. James High will be hoping that goalkeeper Andre McKnight, key defenders Damion Haughton and Ryan Webber; midfielders Alton Shaw and Junior Malcolm; and the strike trio of Jeremy Forbes, Delvon Ellis and Omar Campbell will all rise to the occasion.
Meanwhile the 3.30 p.m. Manning Cup clash should see a tough battle between defending champions Tivoli Comprehensive and nine-time winners Wolmer's.
Tivoli still have the core of last year's team. The west Kingston team have retained the services of goalkeeper Luke Rose whose display in goal last year inspired his team to the title last year.
Rocka daCosta, Roland Deans, Okelo Simpson are in the Tivoli line-up and coach Dave Clarke is confident.
"It is going to be a tough game. I don't know a lot about the Wolmer's team but we are going there to win," said Clarke.
Wolmer's should be tough to put away though as they too is expected to figure prominently in the season. The majority of the players that will represent the Heroes Circle school were a part of the school's U-16 team which won the all-island Colts competition last year.
By Adrian Frater
Staff Reporter
