MONTEGO BAY, St James — First-time qualifiers Muschett High and former champions Frome Technical High, who had advanced as one of the best third-placed teams, are among the surprise qualifiers for the quarter-finals of the ISSA/LIME daCosta Cup football competition after yesterday’s dramatic final round of the Inter-zone round.

At least 15 schools went into the final set of games with hopes of advancing, but with just the winner of each of the eight zones advancing it took tie-breakers to decide at least two of the qualifiers.

Muschett High and Frome Technical both won their zones on the second tie-breaker after finishing tied with at least one other school on points and goal difference; Muschett won Zone Two by edging former champions St James High after both schools finished on the same points and goal difference, while Frome Technical continued their run after winning Zone Seven by the slimmest of margins ahead of Paul Bogle High and last year’s winners Glenmuir High after all three finished on six points.

It was also close going in three other zones where the qualifiers advanced after beating the second-placed team by one point.

The zone winners who will advance to the quarter-finals that start on Saturday are Green Island High, Muschett High, Ben Francis Knockout champions St Elizabeth Technical, Manchester High, Marcus Garvey Technical, Port Antonio High, Frome Technical and Garvey Maceo.

Muschett High, coached by Pastor Hugh Solomon, who had led St James High to four straight semi-finals and the double in 2008, beat Rusea’s High 2-1 at Jarrett Park to finish on seven points, the same number earned by St James High, who edged Godfrey Stewart High 1-0 at Frome, with both schools ending with a goal difference of two.

The Trelawny school that qualified for the Inter-zone round for the first time, however, had scored one more goal than St James High, five to four, to get the nod.

Nickoy Anderson scored once in either half for Muschett, while Donovan McKenzie had drawn the winless Rusea’s level at half-time.

Frome Technical, a semi-final qualifier last year, but handed a lifeline after finishing third in Zone B in the first round, took the qualifying spot from Zone Seven on goal difference after three schools finished tied on six points, including Glenmuir High and Paul Bogle High.

The Westmoreland school who beat Paul Bogle High 2-1 yesterday, however, finished with a goal difference of four, the same as Paul Bogle, but their eight-goal scores, including five against Vere Technical, gave them the edge over Glenmuir, who scored six goals including four against Vere, yesterday.

Green Island advanced to the last eight for the first time in 17 years, but only after a bizarre 5-4 win over out-of-contention Green Pond at Jarrett Park.

Leaton Galloway and Shane Sterling scored two goals each for Green Island, including one in time added, as two mistakes by the Hanover school almost cost them a place in the top eight.

Green Pond went 2-0 up after six minutes through Kashief Brown and Romaine Lewis, but Green Island came back to lead 3-2 at half-time with Sterling in the 23rd minute, Leaton Galloway in the 40th, and 15-year-old Linford Galloway in the 41st minute all scoring.

A mistake by the Green Island goalkeeper Junior Robinson, two minutes into the second half, allowed Green Pond to level the scores at 3-all after he misplayed a slow roller from Green Pond’s Jerome Haughton and the ball rolled over his boots and into the goal.

Leaton Galloway then produced an individual bit of magic in the 73rd minute, dribbling from his own half and beating three defenders before powering the ball into the Green Pond goal to bring his team level once more, but a needless foul in his own penalty area in the 86th minute led to Robinson scoring to make the score 4-4.

Green Island finally got the winner in time added when the Green Pond goalkeeper, as well as the defenders failed to get the ball out of their penalty area and Sterling prodded it across the line.

At the Trelawny Multi-purpose Stadium, Grange Hill beat 10-man William Knibb Memorial 3-1, but finished with six points, just one short.

Manchester High won back-to-back 1-0 games, edging Spalding High at Kirkvine to win Zone Four with seven points to edge Munro College, who beat Clarendon College 2-1, but finished with six points.

Marcus Garvey Technical did what they had to do, beat Holmwood Technical 1-0 through a Rohan Hall goal at Drax Hall to win Zone Five, while Garvey Maceo advanced from Zone Eight, despite drawing 0-0 against Kemps Hill.

STETHS and Port Antonio High joined Marcus Garvey with perfect win records in the Inter-zone round to advance easily.

Khesanio Hall scored twice, while Jovan James and Dickoy Daley got one each to add to a defender’s goal for STETHS’ 5-0 win over BB Coke to top Zone Three.

Daniel Roberts scored in the second and 42nd minutes, and Dominick Fisher scored in the 81st and 86th minutes for Port Antonio High, as Christopher Smith and Ronaldo Skeffery also scored as they beat Bog Walk High 6-1.