Central High want to keep making history

Western Bureau:

CENTRAL HIGH School are looking to continue their historic run while Manchester High seek to reclaim former glory as they go in search of a spot in the final game of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) daCosta Cup football competition when they clash in the first game of the STETHS Sports Complex doubleheader this afternoon at 2 o’clock.

Manchester last made it to the d’Cup final in 2009 while Central made history with a semifinal spot last week. Both teams met in the round of 16 and played to a 1-1 draw. They are, however, coming into the game off losses in the ISSA Champions Cup.

Coach of Central, Jermain Douglas, said they are upbeat and ready to rise to the occasion once more this season.

“We played Manchester earlier in the season, so I think we have as good a chance as they do. We are not intimidated or perturbed by what they are doing. We just have to focus on getting the job done. The boys have been doing well in difficult situations all season, so I think we can rise to the occasion as usual,” said Douglas.

“We are trying to drill it into the boys’ heads that it’s one game at a time although we are just two good games away from the ultimate prize,” he said.

Johnoy Chambers, coach of Manchester, said he will be taking the lessons from Saturday’s loss in the Champions Cup into this game as they look to bounce back.

Manchester, who had been unbeaten since the second round of the d’Cup, were edged 1-0 by Jamaica College.

“We want to impose ourselves on Central using our playing style and force them not to play,” Chambers said.

“That game (Champions Cup) taught us a lot, both on and off the field. The boys are still upbeat because now we know things that we can’t do and what to keep doing.”

FULL STRENGTH

Chambers is excited his team is back to full strength with the return of Jamar Brown, who was injured in the first game of the quarterfinal round.

“He was our leading scorer from the second round before we lost him in the Frome game. He is back ... The principal was saying to me that this is the first time in a long while we are going into a crucial game with all our players fit.”

In the late kickoff at 4 p.m., Champions Cup holders and the team playing arguably the best football in the country, Clarendon College, will battle last season’s beaten finalists, The Manning’s School.