Expect Top Performances
(This is the first of a four-part series on teams in this year’s daCosta Cup competition. The other three parts will be carried between Thursday and Sunday, September 10. Once competition starts, The North Coast Times will bring coverage of the teams from the parishes we cover: Portland, St Mary, and St Ann –Editor’s note)
Zone of Death
No school from the Northeast coast parishes of St Ann, St Mary and Portland has ever won the daCosta Cup, symbol of rural schoolboy football supremacy. And, none of the teams has seriously challenged for the cup in recent years.
Talk to coaches from the three parishes and even those with the best team will not suggest they are going to win the cup this year. However, coaches, managers, and captains spoken to by the North Coast Tomes expect to put in top, entertaining performances and some to go deep into the competition.
One of the most intriguing zones this year is Zone ‘C’ which involves six St Ann teams and two from Trelawny. Some say it’s the Zone of Death.
The Trelawny two are Cedric Titus and William Knibb. Both of those reached the Inter-Zone round last year.
The St Ann teams in Zone ‘C’ this year are Aabuthnott Gallimore (AG), Brown’s Town, Discovery Bay, Ocho Rios, Ferncourt, and York Castle (YC) high schools.
Last year, YC with more than a little help from Mt Pleasant Academy, and Brown’s Town made it to the Inter-Zone round.
This year, with remnants of the assistance last year and with some coming through the U-16 ranks, York Castle may still be a factor, insiders say. However, two other highly touted teams are Brown’s Town and Ocho Rios high schools.
DIFFERENT FORMAT
Zone ‘C’ has a different format to others. After each school in Zone C has played the other once, that is after they have all played seven matches, they will be ranked by points from first to eighth. The top four schools will then play home and away to decide on the two to advance out of the Zone.
That means from all those schools — including last year’s zone toppers York Castle and Brown’s Town and Cedric and Knibb — only two teams will advance from among these stars.
DISCOVERY BAY & FERNCOURT
Discovery Bay are newcomers and they have had a fiery baptism in the pre-season with a 12-0 drubbing by Brown’s Town.
Ferncourt High are back for the first time in more than ten years and the coach who handled them in their previous iteration is Andrew Holland. He says the school is happy to be back after a long sit-out from the competition and he’s drawing heavily on last year’s U-16 team. ”We have to start somewhere and give the guys experience and exposure,” he told North Coast Times.
Tyrone Codner has been around the team for 15 years and is their coach. He told North Coast Times that he has built the team around a core from last year’s squad. He’s not making g too much of the pre-season performance but says of their eight matches they lost one to Cornwall College, drew two, and won five. He says from the start of camp the goal; was to do well. “It won’t be easy but that’s our focus,” Mr Codner said.
The team will be severely tested, their first two matches being William Knibb and then York Castle.
Bron’s Town team working out before a pre-season match:
(Look Out for Part 2)
