Jamaica College and Penwood High players do battle in a schoolboy Manning Cup game last season. (Photo: File)
The ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup competition is scheduled to kick off on Saturday, September 11, and the Observer begins a series of previews on the leading contenders. Today, we look at groups A and D.
GROUP A favourites and 2007 winners Jamaica College (JC) will start their ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel Manning Cup campaign against little-known Cumberland High at Old Hope Road on September 13.In what could be another outstanding year of schoolboy football, the 2009 Walker Cup champions are seen as one of the main stumbling blocks to St George's College grabbing a third consecutive hold on the Urban Area title.
JC's main competition in the group should be Waterford, who showed promise in reaching the quarter-finals last year before suffering a heavy loss to Bridgeport which dumped them out of contention.
Waterford's head coach Floyd Coke, in his fourth year at the helm, said his team has matured since that debacle and is targeting at least a semi-final place.
"After we won the first two games in the quarter-final round we fell down badly against Bridgeport and lost that game 8-0. That loss to Bridgeport would have sent a signal to them that the Manning Cup is not as easy as it was shaping out to be for them.
"We have retained about 90 per cent of the team and we have a solid base. The preparation could have been better, but it isn't bad and most of the players have matured.
"We're very confident of doing well and if all goes well we should be in that final four," he said, while pointing out that a lot is expected of attacking players Rohan Dale, Andre Johnson, Andre McFarlane and defender Derron Britton.
Waterford also open their account on the 13th -- at home against St Mary's College -- in what is expected to be a lopsided encounter.
Former champions Camperdown have not enjoyed the best of times since they were ousted in the semi-finals in 2000 by Kingston College.
Despite a decent start to the last year's competition, they faltered in the latter stages of group play and failed to make the quarter-final round.
With only two teams to advance from the group, the east-Kingston based school will be hard-pressed to upstage JC and Waterford for that coveted quarter-final berth.
However, Coach Orlando Clarke said he has been better able to prepare the team this year and insists Camperdown will improve from last season.
"The preparation this time around has gone much better than last season. Last year we fell short because of the poor physical preparation. This year I'm expecting an improvement in that area because we have been able to properly feed the players so we can train more effectively and now we also have our own field at the Bellevue Bowl.
"We have also retained some crucial players in Damion Lowe, Ricardo Oldham and Renaldo Reynolds," he said.
Group A is completed by Kingston High and Oberlin High.
Jarrett Park will host a triple header on Saturday's opening day. St George's will open against St Jago in the Manning Cup, before 2008 daCosta Cup winners St James High entertain Spot Valley, followed by defending champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) versus Lacovia.
