Clarendon College advance to Ben Francis Cup quarter-finals

ST ANN, Jamaica—Defending champions Clarendon College led six other teams to the quarter-finals of the ISSA Ben Francis Cup competition after beating Ocho Rios High 2-0 in their Round of 16 game played at Drax Hall on Wednesday. Both goals came in the first half as the champions took advantage of a good start and made progress to the next round set to be played on Saturday. Also advancing Wednesday were Old Harbour High, Dinthill Technical, Glenmuir High, McGrath High, Munro College and Denbigh High and they will join Manchester High who had qualified on Tuesday after beating Cornwall College 2-0 in Mandeville. At Drax Hall, Jaheim Senior and Justin Hayles scored in the first half for Clarendon College as they handed Ocho Rios High their first loss of the season and were also conceding for the first time. After combining for 46 goals in their first two games of the competition, Glenmuir High and Kemps Hill failed to score in regulation time in their game played at Wembley and Glenmuir clawed their way to a 4-3 win on penalties. McGrath High beat Christiana High 2-1 in their game, two days after getting past Central High in a rescheduled game with goals from Jim Mitchell and Issac Mason. Munro College came from a goal down to beat Manning's School 2-1 to book their spot with Romaine Rockland giving the Westmoreland school the lead in the 24th minute. An own goal added at the end of the first half drew Munro College level before former Manning's player Kajay Williams scored the winner in the 54th minute. Giant killers Denbigh High continued their run, edging Porus High 1-0 at Manchester High, while Old Harbour High blanked Garvey Maceo High 4-0 and Dinthill Technical were 3-0 winners over Bellefield High. Wednesday’s results: Old Harbour High-4, Garvey Maceo-0 Dinthill Technical-3, Bellefield High-0 Kemps Hill High-0, Glenmuir High-0 (3-4 PK) McGrath High-2, Christiana High-1 Munro College-2, Manning's School-1 Porus High-0, Denbigh High-1 Ocho Rios High-0, Clarendon College-2. —Paul Reid