MAY PEN, Clarendon — Defending champions Clarendon College and red-hot Manchester High will meet in what should be a mouth-watering match-up in the second game of a double-header at Middlesex College in May Pen at 3:00 pm as the inter-zone round of the ISSA/Flow daCosta Cup football competition gets underway with 16 games.

Six double-headers are on today’s schedule as teams start the final hurdle to the first title of the season, the Super Cup, which will be contested among the winners of each of the eight Inter-zone rounds starting on October 24.

The top-two teams in each of the zones will, however, advance to the quarter-finals and Clarendon College and Manchester High have been paired in Zone Four along with Munro College and Spalding, one of the most competitive zones.

Former champions and fierce rivals Cornwall College and Rusea’s High, as well as the unpredictable Petersfield High, are in Zone Two along with Herbert Morrison Technical. Another tough grouping is Zone Five where Fair Prospect, Annotto Bay, Marcus Garvey and Lacovia High, one of the two best third-placed teams, will vie for two places.

Manchester High, who are yet to win a title at this level, have set the mark very high this year with 68 goals on their way to winning all 10 games in the first round, by far the most impressive record of any of the 78 schools.

Despite this being the first game of the inter-zone round, the result of today’s game could go a far way in determining the outcome of the zone and who qualifies for the Super Cup.

It wasn’t smooth sailing for the Paul ‘Tegat’ Davis-coached Clarendon College in the first round as they drew three of their eight games and had to wait until Saturday’s final round of games to confirm their place in the Inter-zone phase.

An injury to Joel Sterling had slowed Clarendon College, but they are expected to be back to full strength for today’s clash.

Rusea’s High are coming off their first loss of the season, the second straight season they are losing the final game of the first round after locking up qualification and face a Petersfield team that won their last two games by an 8-0 aggregate to rescue their season.

Rusea’s are expected to get over their loss to Frome on Saturday, but could run into a Petersfield team that will be confident they can pull off a surprise.

The Paul Bogle High vs Vere Technical game at York Oval could be an entertaining one between two teams that will have ambitions of making it to the Super Cup.

Paul Bogle were undefeated in Zone O, while Vere Technical, who won their last daCosta Cup title in 1980, lost one game in Zone N, but were among the early qualifiers.

In the double-header at Jarrett Park, Zone A teams St James High and Cornwall College are expected to start with wins against Spot Valley High and Herbert Morrison Technical respectively.