Cedric Titus' goalkeeper, Devaughn Hawthorne, pulls off a brilliant save, parrying the ball on to the crossbar, during a daCosta Cup schoolboy football game against William Knibb in zone D at William Knibb yesterday. The game ended 1-1. - photo by Richard Morais

Western Bureau:

Manning's yesterday afternoon made their coach, former Reggae Boy Aaron Lawrence, a very happy man when they spanked Petersfield 3-0 to join the latest group of qualifiers for the inter-zone round of the 2009 ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup schoolboy football competition.

"This gives me a very good feeling because it has been a while since we have made the inter-zone round," said Lawrence, whose team scored through Asonie Samuels, Jovane Williams and David McKenzie.

He added: "We are happy."

In Zone E, St Elizabeth Technical (STETHS) and Munro College marched into the inter-zone round in contrasting style. STETHS spanked Black River 5-0, with the prolific Denmark Gillings scoring twice.

Munro, whose game against Newell High was rained out, advanced without kicking a ball as Balaclava, who were still in the inter-zone race, suffered a 0-2 loss to Lacovia.

In Zone I, Old Harbour High clinched one of the group's two inter-zone places, when they blanked Central High 2-0 to move up to 21 points. The results mean that either Garvey Maceo or Glenmuir, both former champions, will be left on the sidelines when the inter-zone round starts.

Inter-zone phase

In Zone D, Marcus Garvey slipped into the inter-zone phase despite playing to a 0-0 draw with Brown's Town, which lifted them to 26 points. However, the other place in the group remains wide open after William Knibb and Cedric Titus battled to 1-1 draw, which means they will enter Saturday's final round in a battle for the final place.

In Zone L, Port Antonio and Paul Bogle took the group's two inter-zone places when they emerged with respective 2-1 and 2-0 wins against Seaforth and Fair Prospect, from the group's four team play-offs. In the first round, both Port Antonio and Paul Bogle had 1-0 wins.

The competition will continue this afternoon with three games, including the crucial Zone A game between Cornwall College and Spot Valley High. Cornwall College, on 21 points, are seeking to join champions St James High, on 24 points, atop the group standings.

Games on

Zone A: Spot Valley vs Cornwall College at Spot Valley, Muschett vs Green Pond at Muschett

Zone G: Christiana vs Holmwood at Christiana

Yesterday's results

Zone C: Grange Hill 1 Little London 1, Manning's 3 Petersfield 0

Zone D: Marcus Garvey 0 Brown's Town 0, Cedric Titus 1 William Knibb 1

Zone E: Newell vs Munro (rained out), Lacovia 2 Balaclava 0, STETHS 5 Black River 0

Zone F: decarteret vs Manchester High (rained out), Belair 7 May Day 4, Bellefield 12 Cross Keys 0

Zone G: Spaldings 1 Knox College 0, Edwin Allen 5 Porus 0

Zone I: Old Harbour 2 Central 0, Garvey Maceo vs Tacius Golding, Glenmuir 1 Kemps Hill 0

Zone L (play-off):- Port Antonio 2 Seaforth 1, Paul Bogle 2 Fair Prospect 0