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Perennial title contenders Jamaica College (JC) will face off against a proven Excelsior High unit in a fight for urban schoolboys football supremacy today in the ISSA/WATA Manning Cup final at the National Stadium.
Their clash will be the feature match of a double header, as Mona High will take on St Catherine High in the final of the ISSA Walker Cup knockout competition earlier in the afternoon.
The Walker Cup final is set to kick off at 3 p.m., with the Manning Cup grand finale slated for 6 p.m.
Fans can expect fireworks at the National Stadium when JC and Excelsior take to the field, if their meeting earlier this season is anything to go by.
The two teams had clashed in the quarterfinal round where JC needed a late strike from Duwayne Burgher to sink the Excelsior Eagles in a 2-1 win.
Raymond Watson, JC’s coach, is expecting a similar result from his charges and said nothing less than a win will be satisfactory.
Watson acknowledged the strength of his opposition, but remained confident they can win the title, regardless of the task ahead.
“To win. To win on Friday, nothing more, nothing less,” Watson said of his expectations.
“We played Excelsior before, we know what they will do and they know what we will do. It just comes down to who wants it most.”
JC will have a plethora of attacking options at their disposal to lead their lines, as Burgher, Jabarie Howell, Jamone Lyle and Jamoy Dennis have all proven vital to the team’s run to the final.
Watson explained that their team is not an overnight success, but the years of work, which has seen a strong level of cohesion between the players.
“We have been doing this for the past two, three years. It is not something that has happened overnight or just this season. It is something that these boys have been doing since under-16. It is just now bearing fruit because they are now seeming to understand what we require of them,” Watson explained.
A LONG WAIT
His opposite number, Keon Broderick, head coach for Excelsior, is eager and determined to bring schoolboy football success back to Mountain View Avenue.
Excelsior last lifted the Manning Cup title in 2004, and Broderick is ready to break their over two-decades-long drought.
“Of course, they are hungry and the coaching staff and management team are hungry to get a title here at Excelsior High,” Broderick said.
He will look to a group of senior players who have been the team’s driving force throughout the season, including marksman Kimarly Scott, Kivann Salmon, Terrence Williams, and Shamari Chambers.
Scott stands as the team’s leading goalscorer this season, with 19 goals to his name, joint second in the competition.
He has also bagged six goals in the golden boot race, just behind Eltham High’s Santana Headley with seven.
The Manning Cup golden boot race only considers goals scored at the start of the round of 16 onwards.
Broderick said the team is especially motivated ahead of the game after near misses in the past, including a 3-1 defeat to Mona last year in the Walker Cup final.
“We’ve been through so much and they have done the school and staff really proud. We are going to relax and enjoy the moment.”
JC have won the most Manning Cup titles in the competition’s history with 31, and last lifted the crown in 2022.
Excelsior, on the other hand, have lifted the title seven times and are eager to add an eighth title to their repertoire.
Today’s games:
Walker Cup: Mona vs St Catherine at 3 p.m.
Manning Cup: Excelsior vs JC at 6 p.m.
English (US) ·