ONE of two things will happen today.

St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) will add to their already incredible record of winning four Ben Francis Cup titles in-a-row or Glenmuir High will become the joint most successful team in this knockout competition.

Either way, history will be created in south-west Clarendon when these two south-central heavyweights collide in the first final of the ISSA/LIME rural area schoolboy football season.

Match time is 2:30 pm; venue: Juici Park.

It’s somewhat difficult not to stray down memory lane, if only for a brief moment, as the build up to this showdown bears a remarkable likeness to that of the 2012 daCosta Cup final, played at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

On that December night, no one expected Glenmuir — then dubbed the ‘Silent Assassins’ — to beat STETHS. Coached by Jackie Walters at the time, the Clarendon side was thought to be going through a rebuilding phase, while their St Elizabeth opponents were hunting their fifth piece of silverware in four years. Yet, on the back of a disciplined counter-attacking display, Glenmuir upstaged STETHS, 1-0 in extra-time, to clinch the trophy.

This season, the scenario is pretty much the same, with Glenmuir, still recovering from Walters’ departure in 2013, riding on an incredible wave of momentum into this final. They began the season on no one’s lips — though they did capture the first pre-season trophy on offer, the Knox Cup — and were not even ranked as outsiders for any of the two trophies up for grabs. But oddly, it seemed they actually preferred it this way: out of the public eye while plotting their way to glory.

“Trust me, it does help,” admitted coach Warren Simpson, “because the tag of pre-season favourites does carry a price and you have to remember that you are dealing with youngsters. The pressure can take a toll on them, so not having that spotlight on you makes it a bit easier.”

A huge chunk of credit must to go Simpson, and his assistant Lenworth Gordon, because one of the things that kept Glenmuir firing this season is their blinding self confidence. They always believe that once they get things right on their end they could overcome any opponent. That belief was present against Garvey Maceo earlier in the season when they beat last year’s daCosta Cup finalists 2-0. But it was even more visible against a better Cornwall College outfit, which they stopped by a similar scoreline at the quarter-final stage, while playing largely on the counter-attack.

The player who is the focal point of this smash-and-grab tactic is Ricardo Dennis. His pace, skill and goalscoring ability was also critical to their 2-0 victory over Dinthill Technical in Tuesday’s semi-final. He is the type of performer whose trickery allows him to be a match-winner without actually scoring a goal. Much like the equally diminutive Donjay Smith, who will be playing a similar role for STETHS this afternoon. STETHS, though, won’t be employing a similar approach. In fact, it is believed that the Santa Cruz side will be the protagonists.

Despite losing no fewer than 10 members of last year’s squad, plus a so-so pre-season, STETHS kicked off their campaign with high expectations — if not from the coaching staff, certainly from the fans. In the preliminary phase, they weren’t as explosive as last term, but there came a point in the season when you just knew that any team who had ambitions of winning a trophy had to beat STETHS. That point may well have been Tuesday, October 14, sometime around 5:00 pm.

Trailing 0-1, very deep into stoppage time, to archrivals Manchester High in the final game of their Inter-Zone group, it was believed, surely, STETHS were heading for their first defeat in almost two years of rural competition. The players harboured no such thought, however, and a “sharp twist of the neck” from the Goliath-esque Roshane McClymont eventually earned them a 1-1 draw in the final seconds of the contest. But what a precious point it was?

Not only did they secure a place in the LIME Super Cup; perhaps it was also the moment that this crop of STETHS players — who many, including members of the coaching staff, previously thought would not be ready for a title run-in until next season — started to believe they are invincible. And, the Super Cup defeat to Jamaica College aside, they continued to churn out the results, irrespective of the opponents, even when the performance was not always up to scratch.

Adding the scalp of the previous title favourites Clarendon College to that list has left a number of their fans thinking that winning back-to-back rural area double is now a formality. But overlooking the threat posed by this Glenmuir side, which has already overachieved, would be a dangerous approach to take. Thankfully, coach Omar Wedderburn is not an overzealous supporter. “I am actually expecting a tough game,” he said.

“We never see any team as a walkover because once you are in a final both teams have the same aim. And, as dem seh, the ball is round, so at the end of the day it is not really who play the better football, but who put away their chances. But we are always confident. Our premier objective as a team — from staff, coaches to the players and the supporters — is to win every game we play.”