 Welcome back to the Sportsmax zone. We continue now with football schoolboy football action got on the way on Saturday in both Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago in the Twin Island Republic in the secondary schools football league We saw the opening game the Super Cup sent Benedict's Benedict's College beating Fatima College Fatima College 643 in a seven goal thriller at the case the Crawford stadium Despite losing key players the SSFL Premier Division champions were dominant in the first half going to the break with a three-nil lead Fatima made a contest of it in the second half getting two quick goals before Daryl Zoom Zoom Garcia squashed any hopes of a comeback by completing his hat-trick So in the three successive finals contested between St. Benedict's and Fatima it reads St. Benedict's two wins the Premier title and the Super Cup Fatima one the intercal national title so a great start there in TNT and St. Benedict's coming up with a good victory and keeping their dominance over Fatima at least in this period on on on track Yeah, for sure clearly these two teams showing themselves as the best at the schoolboy level in Trinidad and Tobago and Really good comeback by Fatima College as well because at three-nil down at halftime And you're thinking this one is very much done But they came out with so much more purpose in the second half They got those two quick goals, but Garcia was quite clinical for St. Benedict's and got the job done It was a wonderful performance By St. Benedict's and I must say Lance it looked really good on television as well I was watching this game while I was on my way to the National Stadium to watch the Manning and the Costa Cop Openers and it looked quite good on the Sportsmax app and a really good performance from St. Benedict's to start the season Yeah, and the St. Benedict's coach very very very confident and he said post game that this game is already behind them And they're looking forward to the season with a lot of gusto. So It is it is very clear that They've considered this just a good opening match for them But immaterial because what they want is to pull in the entire trophies for the 20-23 season Yeah, I think they would have been a little disappointed last season not to lift the intercall title After winning the Premier Division title And I think they want to set that record straight and they will think to themselves This is a brilliant way to start that campaign. We've beaten Fatima College We expect to be One of the the main forces in the competitions this campaign And I think that will give them tremendous confidence and belief going forward That they can snatch the intercall SSFL Premier Division double. Yeah, and there was some feeling, you know, Ricardo that since the return of the SSFL after covid they The teams were a little Behind schedule and and and they're the quality of the competition and the games themselves Would have been affected by teams who were not fully back yet in proper background training And tactical work and so on and I think we're seeing the signs here and now that Based on what we saw in Saturday's opening games that that the teams Are have put covid 19 setbacks behind them And ready now to bring the level of football that we had seen prior to 2020 Yeah, everything I saw on Saturday suggests to me that we're going to see greater quality all round in SSFL football this season and You are right lance. I mean just after covid I think when you looked at the competition, it it It didn't look as appealing as you would want it to be and especially when you are thinking about development and the The next generation of quality trinidad and topago players. You couldn't necessarily see it But much better quality football on display on saturday the quality of the passing the movement of the ball I thought was Significantly better even from these two teams who were champion teams last year They looked in my opinion much better than they did a year ago And I think the coaches can take a lot of credit for that Yeah, st. Benedict's coach Randolph voice and as I said, he spoke glowingly about his team's performance On saturday and really wanted to emphasize the fact that The season ahead for them is where they are banking on putting in some really really good performances Well action in the ssfl will continue on wednesday with the first round of the premier division And the matches will be maddox secondary against qrc at serpentine road The pleasantville game st. Mary's college is on as well along with fatima college against st. Antonis college arima north against presentation Sound one north against st. Benedict's space on high will be up against bishops high naparimo college will be Up against shaguanus north that's on louis street and trinity east will take on east mucarapo And that will be at trin city round one matches wednesday in the premier division fixtures Still with schoolboy football, but now to jamaica We're at the rural era da costa cup and urban era manning cup competitions kicked off at the national stadium in kingston on saturday In the first match of the day reigning da costa cup champions clarence and college made light work of lennon high Running out comfortable five nil winners malachi douglas who represents Dunbeholden and the jamaica premier league grabbed a double That's clarence and college scored all five goals in a dominant first half performance Meanwhile reigning champions in the manning cup jamaica college were two nil winners over tivoli gardens theory garrick in the first half stoppage time and javon mills in the 80th minute were the ghost course For the devon ferguson coach jamaica college and it could have been more had it not been for the brilliance of the tiboli gardens goalkeeper Shakur adir Riccardo, you were on commentary duties on saturday. What did you take away from jamaica colleges win? I think a lot of what you expect with jamaica college, especially in recent seasons one of the Stat that I spoke about at the beginning of that match is that going into that match jamaica college had drawn three of their last five opening games and even last season when they beat a hapless St. Mary's college by 13 goals to nil in their opener. They followed that up with an ill or draw So usually if jamaica college is vulnerable It will be at the beginning of the season and we've seen that over time I think coming into saturday's match though. They knew that tiboli gardens posed a serious threat Everything coming out of preseason is that the tiboli team has been looking really good and they're much improved from last year And remember that in 2022 they won the walker cup knockout titus. So they would have had that confidence as well They had five players who started in the walker cup final of 2022 starting in this opening game against jamaica college So I think jc came out with a little bit more purpose than maybe they would have a little bit more desire And they got the job done and and having said that lance They still in my opinion did not show everything that they have On saturday javon mills. Well This is tiara garrick there number 11 who got the opening goal Um Odain will before so they have gotten from your kasa high school. He wasn't even on the team sheet He's a quality player. He scored 16 goals in rural area football last season including 13 In the dacosta cup three in the ben france's knockout He's now at jamaica college and he will add a lot to their attack for sure An already potent attack that davian ferguson has to work with and they also have javon Javon mills from your castle as well who has some primary league experience. He scored the second goal He is back. He adds so much experience so much quality And right away we're seeing a jamaica college team lance that I think throughout the course of the season will build And will continue to get better Which is the way they operate usually anyhow Yeah, and part of jamaica college's potency in schoolboy football for The better part of a decade now would have been their depth Which you reference just now in talking about the fact that they haven't laid all their cards on the table yet And it's one of the reasons why jamaica college has been so dominant in schoolboy football in jamaica The fact that they have so much depth and they have players who Are are going to be unfurled later on in the tournament Which a lot of the fans wouldn't have seen in the early stages Yeah, very much the case or players who will be released When it is not a tv match You could look at it that way as well But yes, they do have great depth jamaica college part of the reason for that is because they have An a-class Recruitment program if you want to put it like that There is no doubt that the jamaica college setup Searches for talent and they look around the country And they look for the very best players that they can integrate into their setup with what they already have You say around the country but outside of jamaica as well Well also outside of jamaica because yes, they do have players from the rest of the caribbean in their setup We saw a number of them play last season I think they have about six or seven of them in their squad this season from outside of jamaica So they have a fabulous recruiting machinery and put that together with a very good Management structure and a good structure overall in my opinion It means that they're always going to be challengers because they have a system in place That ensures they replenish as far as the talent is concerned and quality talent as well So there is no doubt that when the business end of the season comes Jamaica college will very much be there once again for davian fergusson this year though Isis spitlands he started in 2019 replacing andropere to a gun Titles in 2018 after megal coli had left. He's won two manning cup titles davian fergusson He's won a champions cup title as well, but he's not won the olivia shield and i think that Will likely Be among the things that he desperately wants this campaign lost the olivia shield last season to clarence and college I think when they got to the final as well in 2019 It was clarence and college when they won the manning cup in 2019 It was clarence and college who beat them in the olivia shield and clarence and college looked brilliant Uncerted it to to start their campaign So you can bet that come the business end of the the costa cup clarence and college will very much be there as well Yeah, and and the fact is about clarence and college now you go there. They scored five goals on all in the first half yes, and Displaying the the typical Lenny Hyde kind of football they play Very attractive football and the ball handling skills of the players immensely Impressive and a team that you know, you just love to watch and that's just Stereotypical of clarence and college teams yet very much the case was especially impressed with this goal The third goal just beautifully worked as donald pointed out clearly off the training ground This is something that they must have practiced over and over again You just look at the movement The players knowing exactly where they were going to pass the ball and lennon just shell shocked Surprisingly and you can see lenny hyde smiling there because he knows. Yeah, we really worked on that one But from a lenon standpoint very disappointed with lenon in the heat of kingstone lands They took forever to warm up and some would even suggest that maybe it was because it was all of five That clarence and college did not push as hard as they could have in the second half But yeah, this cc team looks good I was surprised to see the number of returning players to this clarence and college team because I thought a few of them Might have moved on like a malachi douglas who scored a couple of goals christopher hollow I think is a real quality player But the fact that they are there kaheem dickson is still up front remember him He scored that stunning bicycle kick goal in the champions cup Semifinal against kingstone college. Of course that game belonged to the genre whisper richards With the goal of the season But yeah, this cc team looks good and once again, it has the stamp of len worth hide playing attractive football Playing quality football in my opinion lands over the last three or four seasons Clarence and college has played the best brand of football in the country Yes, they are a delight to watch and it was the case again on saturday And I can't wait to see them again and unlike jamaica college Where you find that you have to watch jamaica college over a number of games to see a lot of what they have With clarence and college what you see is what you get Lenny hide is More often than not going to put his best available side out there And you just watch and you enjoy and genuine the clarence and college is is a delight to watch Yeah, you said best football in the country. You're not talking schoolboy football only are you? No, I'm not So you are saying that clarence and college's best brand of brand of football. Yes, even above the jamaica primarily Yes, okay. I don't I don't think I see any team in the jamaica primary league that Consistently plays that brand of football montego bay united arnett gardens in the past. Yes, um played That type of expressive attacking Football with flair. Yes. Um, that's what you get game in game on from clarence and college I can't see I see that in the jamaica primary league game in game Or maybe you could reference cavalier at one stage, but even last season They were not as expressive as they have been in the past. So Yeah Well, I guess confidence and dominance would contribute to what you've just said anyhow Lenny hide takes over as a done beholden coach this season in the jamaica primary league and done beholden They have a lot of high quality players with good ball handling skills. So let's see if done beholden can match clarence and college We'll see attractiveness on the football field other results on saturday in the issa schoolboy football competition We had the jamaica college tunel over tivoli clarence and final over lennon. There was frume 3 1 over murley natty cambridge beaten 6 1 by roces and The competition continuing this week with lots of matches coverage on sports max channels sports max 1 and 2 Will continue over the weekend. We go to break still a lot more to come on the sports max zone back in a moment