MONTEGO BAY, St James — Three places in the semi-finals of the ISSA/Flow daCosta Cup football competition will be decided today in what is expected to be yet another explosive round of matches in the quarter-finals.

Seven schools will enter today’s six games with the possibility of making it to the semi-finals set for November 27 and 28, as well as the Ben Francis Knockout semi-finals set for next Wednesday.

The winners of each of the four groups will advance, while the fourth team to qualify for the semi-finals, the winner of Group R, will be decided tomorrow after the playing of two more games.

At least two teams from each of the three groups to be contested today can advance, and so the teams will know they must not just win, but seek to score as many goals as possible, as it could come down to goal difference between the top schools.

There is an exception, however, in Group Q, where Petersfield High could qualify for their first-ever semi-final with a draw against Lennon at Frome Sports Grounds.

The fireworks and calculation are expected to happen in Groups P and S where a number of quality teams will be sent home.

All four teams in group P are tied on three points, with Manchester High, who are seeking to avoid yet another season were they have promised much but failed to deliver, leading on goal difference of one.

Lacovia High and St James are on zero goal difference, but the former have two goals, to St James’ one, while Paul Bogle are minus one.

Manchester High will travel to Montego Bay where they will meet a St James High team that has scored just two goals in three games since the end of the Inter-zone round.

In the other game, dark horses Lacovia High and Paul Bogle, both seeking to rebound from losses last week, will meet at STETHS Sports Complex in Santa Cruz.

Group S, with four former champions and three semi-finalists from last year, has lived up to its ‘Group of Death’ tag, with Glenmuir High already out after two losses, but could still play a part in deciding who wins the group.

Dinthill Technical, with the impressive Rodave Murray leading the way with 11 goals since the start of the Inter-zone round, and Rusea’s High are tied on four points at the top of the group, and are only separated by Rusea’s six goals scored to Dinthill’s five with both teams also locked on a goal difference of one.

Defending champions Clarendon College have their backs to the wall and are on three points and must win to have any hopes of advancing.

Dinthill will play Glenmuir High at Wembley Community Centre, while Rusea’s High and Clarendon College will square off at Juici Field.

Rusea’s have shown they can perform playing away from western Jamaica after coming back twice last week to draw 3-3 with Dinthill, at Dinthill. But playing in front of what is expected to be a pro-Clarendon College crowd might not scare the Aaron Lawrence-coached team.

Clarendon College lost the last time they played at Juici Field, beaten by Dinthill, but responded with a 2-0 victory in a must-win game against Glenmuir last week.

Dinthill will go to Wembley full of confidence and will have all rights to be after scoring five goals in their last two games and going up against a team that conceded five and are out of contention.

It could be asking a lot of the Glenmuir team to try and stop the Dinthill team that has won three in a row and appear to have regained their early season form that saw them steamroll teams and scoring at will.

In Group Q, Petersfield and Lennon High are coming off wins in the previous round and are tied on four points each but the Westmoreland school has a better goal difference and a draw would see them win the group on better goal difference over Lennon High.

While Petersfield will have home advantage, playing in their home parish, the chances of Lennon High cannot be dismissed as the Merron Gordon-coached team has proven this season they can compete.

Travis Grant is expected to lead the Lennon attack along with Lorenzo Lewin, while Petersfield High will expect goals from Maliki Reid, who has not scored in their last two outings, Donovan Brown, and the speedy Akiel Brown.