FROME, Westmoreland — Frome Technical High School has ridden their tremendous luck to the semi-finals of the ISSA/Lime daCosta Cup schoolboys’ football competition, and will face Garvey Maceo High on the grounds of the St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) tomorrow, for the right to contest the November 29 final on the competition.

The 2003 champions who were beaten finalists in 2006 and semi-finalists last year, have been on the verge of elimination on no fewer than three occasions, but have lived to tell the tale and are 90 minutes away from the decider.

In the other semi-final game to be played at Jarrett Park on Saturday, STETHS and Port Antonio High will face off.

STETHS are in their fifth straight semi-final, winning the last of their three titles in 2009 and a fourth straight Ben Francis Knock-out this season. Port Antonio High, who famously forfeited a semi-final game in 1992 rather than travel to Montego Bay to play a western- based school, is returning to the top four for the first time since.

Frome Technical had established themselves early in the competition, but two loses and a draw in a four -game span, knocked them out of the running for one of the two automatic Inter-zone spots from Zone B, and then the tight rope act started.

The Marvin Quarrie -coached team got off to a good start winning their first three games in Zone B and looked set to lock up the Ben Francis KO spot that went to the zone winners, but were then held 0-0 by a struggling Rusea’s High team in Lucea.

Frome then beat Irwin High 2-0, but then lost back to back games to Green Island and Rusea’s and fell to third place.

Luckily they finished third with 16 points and a 2.0 average to take one of the two best third place spots.

The theme of close escapes were to continue in the Inter-zone round, where they managed to get the better of last year’s winners Glenmuir High and Paul Bogle on goal difference, after all three schools finished on six points each, and then last Saturday a late goal secured their berth into the semi-finals.

After opening the Inter-zone round with a big 5-1 win over Vere Technical who were advancing from their zone for the first time in 12 years, Frome lost to Glenmuir 2-0, but rebounded to beat Paul Bogle 2-1 to finish with a goal-difference of four to the other team’s three.

Also, after drawing 1-1 with Green Island in their opening game in the quarterfinals, Frome snapped STETHS’s 17 games scoring run as they played out a 0-0 draw and went into Saturday’s game against out of contention Marcus Garvey Technical, needing a win to secure qualification.

Even with STETHS leading Green Island 1-0 late in their game in Santa Cruz, Frome had to win and Jahmarly Brissett who had not scored since the end of the first round, popped up late in the game to extended Frome’s run in the competition.

Ironically, a draw for Frome would have seen Green Island qualify for the semi-finals for the first time in 17 years.

Green Island had produced their own late escapes with last minute wins over Green Pond, in the Inter-zone round and last Wednesday against Marcus Garvey Technical at Drax Hall.