Traditional rivals Jamaica College (JC) and Kingston College (KC) will today face-off in the feature match of the opening round of matches of the 2009 ISSA/Grace Shield competition at Old Hope Road.
The match, which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m., will see both teams squaring off for bragging rights and potentially a share of the lead of Group A of the competition, which also includes defending champions Eltham High.
Eltham High, who last year captured the urban area double, including the Jamaica International Insurance Knockout Cup, will play Bridgeport at Eltham in their opener.
In other Group A matches, last year's beaten semi-finalists, Wolmer's, who are conditioned by national Under-17 coach, Gibbs Williams, travels to Waterford, which has parted company with former national cricketer, Renford Pinnock Sr, who has been a long-standing coach at the institution. Former Grace Shield 'A' League standouts, Penwood and Tarrant, will do battle at Penwood.
Over Group B, 'A' League champions, Innswood High will play away to Norman Manley, St Catherine will entertain Mona, Meadowbrook host St Jago and Excelsior will be at home to Dunoon Technical.
Competition
In the KC versus JC match-up, which will parade a couple of a national under-19 invitees, including the Purples' leg-spinner, Akeem Dewar, who was also invited to the national one-day training squad and Dark Blues' spinner, Carlisle Moxam, will be preceded by the competition's opening ceremony.
"JC have an outstanding chance of going all the way and we hope to hit the road running with a win," said JC coach, David Robertson, who led his alma mater to championship finals two times in the last three years. "KC is a school full of tradition and as such we will have to play them accordingly. But we intend to play each match aggressively and KC is no exception."
Championships
Meanwhile, KC coach, Roy McLean, who has led the North Street standard-bearers to nine championships, the last of which came in 2000 under the leadership of national pacer, Andrew Richardson, said preparations had not been smooth, but they were hoping to do well.
"We didn't have a good preparation heading up to December, so we are a bit late and such we have to go there and hold on," said McLean, who has been coaching KC for the past 20 years. "We are not fearful of any team and will try to get maximum production from the resources we have."