Photo by Adrian Frater
St James High School's Nicholi Barrett (right) and teammate Jason Malcolm (left) double-team Godfrey Stewart's Oshane Hall in yesterday's Ben Francis KO fixture at Jarrett Park. St James High won 2-0.

Adrian Frater, News Editor

WESTERN BUREAU:

ZONE E kingpins Lacovia High School had their finest hour in rural schoolboy football yesterday when they clipped many-time champions Rusea's 1-0 at St Elizabeth High School to qualify for the semi-finals of the Ben Francis Knockout competition.

Zone A big guns St James High, who had a 2-0 win over Zone C's Godfrey Stewart at Jarrett Park, Zone I's Old Harbour, who upstaged Zone H's Lennon 2-1 at Jamalco Sports Club, and Zone J champions Dinthill, who had a big 5-1 win over Zone L's Paul Bogle, also earned their places in Wednesday's semi-finals.

In the game at STETHS, red-hot Lacovia High, the surprise team of the season, showed that winning the competitive Zone E was no fluke as they gave Rusea's a run for their money before clinching their semi-final place courtesy of a Nicoy Smith strike.

Celebration

"It is all joy and celebration here because this is one of our finest football achievements," said Jehu Miller, the head of the Physical Education department at Lacovia High. "This is a big confidence-booster going into the remainder of the season."

In the game at Jarrett Park, St James High dominated against a Godfrey Stewart team that looked over-matched for the most part.

"It was another fairly efficient performance today although we should have won by a much wider margin," said Pastor Hugh Solomon, the coach of the St James High team. "The good thing is that we are still unbeaten in all competitions."

In their game on home turf, Dinthill team were in sparkling goal-scoring form against Paul Bogle, who they sent packing from the competition courtesy of goals by Kevin Skyers and Allister Redden, who got two goals each, and Rosario Harriott.

"We scouted Paul Bogle and pretty much had a good idea of the way they play, so we were ready for them," said Michael Daley, a member of the Dinthill coaching staff. "We knew what we had to do and prepared and executed our game plan well."

In the semi-final games on Wednesday, St James High and Lacovia will clash in the showdown of the unbeaten teams while Old Harbour, who are also unbeaten will square-off against Dinthill.