There will be a new champion in the ISSA Wata daCosta Cup as Clarendon College were eliminated after losing 1-2 to Cornwall College.

Clarendon College which have won four of the last five daCosta Cup titles—2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023 have been unceremoniously kicked out of the competition. The 2020 daCosta Cup season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Garvey Maceo High in Clarendon won the 2021 title.

This season, the Lenworth Hyde-coach Clarendon College finished at the bottom of Group 2 with one point after losing two of their three games.

Munro College topped the group with seven points ahead of Frome Technical with five points. Cornwall College were third with three points.

Deshaun Talbert gave Cornwall the lead in the 33^rd minute from the penalty spot before Dante Escoffery doubled the advantage in minute 44. Nicholy Forbes replied for Clarendon College.

A distraught-looking Clarendon College head coach Lenworth Hyde said his team was always playing catch-up after losing some top players from last year’s winning team.

“We didn’t do well this season as we lost some players from last year. We are in a rebuilding process. We have some Under-16 players to look at this season to try and gel with the remaining players. We gonna lose some players this season also, so it a just a rebuilding,” he reiterated. “I thought we played well today. We had the ball, we had more possession, but we just not penetrating the goals, we just not trying to score a goal, hence we lost the game.”

All is not lost for Clarendon College as they now drop down in unfamiliar waters and will play in the Ben Francis knockout cup for the teams that have exited the daCosta in the second round and the teams that dropped out of the quarter-finals. “We will be going after that. We just have to keep them grounded, keep them focused. What is done is done already, it is what we gonna do from now on and it’s very important how we prepare them for the Ben Francis,” said Hyde.

Meanwhile, despite their win, Cornwall College, coached by former National head coach and Reggae Boyz legend, Theodore Whitmore, also failed to advance to the quarter-finals.

“In regards to the performance of the team today, we came and tried to play and such is the result,” Whitmore pointed out.

“It’s more the desire, the commitment which the second half of the season has been lacking and we came out this afternoon and you could see the commitment and fight from the players,” he noted.

Like Clarendon College, Cornwall College will now focus on the second-tier Ben Francis Cup. “This is a trophy we are looking. Again, it’s a game-by-game situation. The first game we just want to get it out the way and see where we go from there,” said Whitmore.

The daCosta Cup is now down to the last eight teams with Group 1 consisting of St Elizabeth Technical High School, Glenmuir High, Frome Technical and McGrath High. Group 2 will have Munro College, Central High, Garvey Maceo and Ocho Rios High.

In Corporate Area action on Saturday,  Jamaica College and Eltham High waltzed into the Digicel Manning Cup quarter-final.