Photo: Christopher Thorpe scored four goals for Excelsior in their 12-0 win over Holy Trinity on Wednesday
Excelsior High failed to advance to the semi-final of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/LIME Manning Cup competition despite thumping Holy Trinity High 12-0 in their Group J encounter at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex on Wednesday.
Excelsior had drawn 0-0 with defending champions Jamaica College (JC) in their previous game and sat atop the group on goal difference. With a plus one advantage over JC, heading into the encounter, Excelsior had to stay at least level on goals with the champions to advance as group winners.
With JC scheduled to play Denham Town at the same time at the Constant Spring Field, it was always going to be a matter of who could get the most goals against teams that were out of contention, for a chance to advance.
The Mountain View Avenue based school got off to a quick start through Christopher Thorpe in the 8th minute and were able to add three more to the total before half time, despite missing numerous chances to grab a bigger lead going into the interval.
Word crept through from Constant Spring, that JC was leading 6-0 at half time and that added urgency to the Leebert Halliman coached team.
Excelsior managed to double their goal count in the second half, getting all of eight goals in the period, with Samuel Halliman, nephew of the coach, hitting four consecutive goals between the 60th and 68th minute.
Thorpe who had two goals in the first half, also scored two in the second to finish on four goals as well.
Romario Brown and Cadine Graham both had braces to complete the scoring for the former champions.
Some Excelsior players held their heads at the sound of the final whistle as word had already reached them that JC had beaten Denham Two by a whopping 16-0.
Leebert Halliman was left to rue the number of chances his team missed, “Even though they were not at full strength (Holy Trinity), they are a good team. We had our chances to beat JC so it would not have to come down to this (goal difference). ..we got our chances to score more goals and didn’t put them away.”
The massive win for JC sees them remain in contention to defend their Manning Cup title.
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