With the 2022 ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup final set to get under way at 6:30 pm today (December 2) at Sabina Park in Kingston, St Andrew Technical High School (STATHS) and Jamaica College (JC) will both be looking forward to taking home the trophy at the end of the match.

The two teams are no strangers to each other as their paths have crossed in both the Manning Cup quarter finals (November 11), where JC won 1-0, and in the Champions Cup semifinals (November 26) with JC winning 5-4 on penalties after that match ended with a 1-1 draw.

Both teams are more than capable of securing the Manning Cup Friday night.

Will STATHs come out as the champions or will JC remain undefeated and win their 31st title?

JC’s FOOTBALL HISTORY

Dominating Jamaican schoolboy football since 1909, with 30 Manning Cup trophies, three Walker Cup trophies, 22 Olivier Shield trophies and one ISSA Champions Cup trophy, Jamaica College has secured a spot as one of, if not the most remarkable teams in the country.

The team’s capability to plan, work and execute has flowed seamlessly into their 2022 performance as they have not lost a single match since the season’s commencement and have been able to secure an all-time record of 82 goals, the most achieved by any schoolboy football team in a single season, with three
more weeks left to go.

Their undefeated streak

Coming from last season, the team has made much improvement and has promised to regain their title this year in Manning Cup and Champions Cup.

With the disappointment of last year’s defeat to Kingston College, 5-4 on penalties, still fresh in the minds of both the players and their fans, JC has much to prove.

“JC had a very talented team last year but lacked experience. Many players are playing in the Manning Cup for the first time and I believe that’s what became our shortfall at the latter part of the season,” said a member of the team.

“This year, the nucleus of the team is the same as last year and that experience I think has been the difference for us.”

The difference has been made clear in the team’s overall performance this season. Going from three losses last season to this season being the only team to have had no defeats thus far, Jamaica College is going strong with no appearance of slowing down.

STATHS’ FOOTBALL HISTORY

After ending the reign of Kingston College as the Manning Cup champions (3-2), St Andrew Technical High School is setting out to secure their first Manning Cup trophy in 35 years.

Having taken the Manning Cup and Olivier Shield in 1987, as well as making it to the Manning Cup finals all years from 2017 to 2020, and having suffered minimal setbacks this year, STATHS is proving to be a heavy hitter.

With a propitious performance throughout the season thus far, they move confidently to the finals,
hoping to defeat Jamaica College.

“For the past couple years, we’ve been doing well in the last seasons ’til now and we have all worked hard to reach where we are now and we think that we deserve the trophy this season. One of the main reasons is because we all promised that we will do this for Omar Laing, because he would’ve wanted this as well. This was his dream and that’s what’s driving us,” a member of the team told Our Today.