FOLLOWING that November 17 ISSA/Flow Ben Francis Knockout (KO) semi-final at Manchester High, many ardent football fans thought this would (or should) be the daCosta Cup final.

Well, that day is here, and they’ve certainly got their wish.

St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and Dinthill Technical High School will decide the destination of the top rural area schoolboy football prize when they meet this evening at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

Kick-off is scheduled for 4:30.

And, consequently, the winner of this game will tackle Manning Cup champions Jamaica College in the season-ending Olivier Shield play-off, the symbol of all-island schoolboy football supremacy.

To be blunt, that KO semi-final in Mandeville wasn’t really a classic. In fact, for most of the contest, both sides cancelled out each other.

But that’s the point. The spectators, those from 90 Main Street in Santa Cruz and those from Linstead, St Catherine, plus the neutrals in the crowd, thought for the most part that the teams were evenly matched — both sides boasting their very own goal machines.

What they also liked was the fact that both teams weren’t afraid to take risks, even when safety seemed the logical route.

Three times had Dinthill taken the lead and three times had STETHS reeled them in to eventually nick the game by the slimmest of margins: 7-6 in sudden-death penalty shootout.

Jahmani Ranger opened the scoring for Dinthill in the 86th. Michael Kerr, with his only sniff at goal, equalised for STETHS in time added to send the game into extra-time.

But the antics would go on.

Five minutes into extra-time, Rodave Murray, Kerr’s rival for the goalscoring title, rolled in a penalty to restore Dinthill’s advantage — only for Travar McCulloch to pull STETHS level again with a beautiful long-ranged strike.

Amazingly, the defending champions would fall behind again in the penalty shootout, McCulloch missing their first attempt. But this time they steadied their nerves, scoring their next seven spot kicks to advance to the final, after Murray and Anton Rhule had missed theirs for Dinthill.

Two weeks later, STETHS and Dinthill will now renew rivalry in the last game of the season, and this time they’ll be no room for error: the winner takes all.

STETHS, the most consistent team in the region for the past seven years, are undoubtedly the favourites and will be hoping that they’ve learnt from last term’s embarrassing 3-0 final defeat to Clarendon College — a team that they’d also beaten in the Ben Francis semis.

Contesting their four successive final, STETHS are hunting the rural area double — after beating Manchester High for their sixth-straight Ben Francis Cup on November 20 — and their fifth daCosta Cup title, following previous triumphs in 1974, 1999, 2009 and 2013.

Dinthill, the 1981 champions, are seeking only their second hold on the trophy and are already assured to better last season’s achievements where they were beaten at the semi-final stage by, you guessed it, STETHS.

Consecutive semi-final defeats to the same team means this is also a grudge match, and Dinthill will want to enact revenge on the biggest stage.

To do that, however, they’ll need to be better than they were on November 17 because STETHS are a team that seem to believe in their own invincibility. As one learned fan concluded on Thursday, STETHS are never beaten until the final whistle.

Also, the general feeling among observers is that: while Dinthill are worthy opponents and can beat any team on their day, STETHS will be able to match or even better anything they’ll bring to the party this evening.

This view is somewhat shaped by the idea that STETHS have already played through their bad patch and are peaking at the right time.

Back in mid September, there were many knowledgeable football watchers who’d be willing to bet against STETHS being here today.

Their start to the season was so ordinary, eight points in five games, that some even suggested they even struggle to get out of their preliminary-round zone.

But not only did they obviously make it past the first round, they topped Zone E on 21 points ahead of Munro College and Lacovia High — winning six, drawing three and losing only once in 10 games. They scored 24 goals and conceded eight.

And the player who was largely responsible for that upturn in form is Kerr. The muscle-bound centre forward started the revival with a four-timer in his team’s 6-0 win against Newell High, ending the first round with 13 goals.

Since then STETHS have also only once, a 2-0 defeat to St Jago High in the Flow Super Cup quarter-final, while scoring a further 30-odd goals in all competitions.

Like STETHS, Dinthill have not lost over 90 minutes for a very long time. That defeat, a 2-1 loss to Port Antonio High, came on the opening day of the inter-zone round.

And it’s as if that was their wake-up call, for they have since scored 25 goals in all competitions while giving up seven. Before that, they had netted 22 goals, conceded five, won six games, drew three and lost one on their way to topping preliminary-round Zone K with 21 points.

Of Dinthill’s 25 goals since the second round, talismanic striker Murray has scored 15 take his overall tally of 27.

The little number seven player will now go head-to-head with Kerr, who has 16 goals since the second round, for the goalscoring gong this evening in St James, and the feeling is that the winner of this duel will also walk away with the daCosta Cup title.