SANTA CRUZ, St Elizabeth — Defending champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and former winners Glenmuir High booked places in the Inter-zone round of the ISSA/FLOW daCosta Cup football competition after easy wins yesterday.

Jovoney Brown scored a hat-trick to lead STETHS to a 5-1 trouncing of Lacovia High in Zone E to avenge their first-round 0-1 loss, while Jevaun Ennis also had a three-timer to take is tally to 16 goals as Glenmuir romped to a 5-0 beating of Denbigh High in Zone M.

STETHS and Glenmuir brought the number of teams to have booked their places to 10 joining Cornwall College from Zone A, Rusea’s High from Zone B, Manchester High and Mile Gully from Zone F, Clarendon College from Zone H, Dinthill Technical from Zone K, Garvey Maceo High and Vere Technical from Zone N.

Meanwhile, the intensity of the competition is expected to kick up a notch or two starting today as the race for places in the Inter-zone draws to a close between today and Saturday.

Twenty-four games rescheduled from yesterday are slated to be played today, and almost all will have bearing on who advances or fails to move forward.

Six teams could book their places in the second round today, another two can secure top spots in their zones, while several others will be trying to put themselves into a position to take one of the two best third-placed allotments, should they miss out on an automatic spot.

Cedric Titus, who are playing in Zone C for the first time, can progress with a draw away to William Knibb Memorial; either or both of Godfrey Stewart and Little London could advance from Zone D depending on whether Petersfield High can win away to Grange Hill; Fair Prospect High need only a draw against Titchfield in Zone L to advance to the Inter-zone for the third-straight season, while Seaforth High and Paul Bogle could take both spots from Zone O.

Also, former champions Cornwall College and Rusea’s High both need only a draw to win Zones A and B, respectively.

Yesterday, STETHS’ Brown took his tally of goals to 10 bagging a treble as the champions avenged their first-round loss to their close neighbours and took their place in the next round.

Demar James gave STETHS the lead before Brown added two before the break and completed his hat-trick midway the second half.

Oshane Staple, who missed at least three other scoring chances, pulled one back for Lacovia late in the game.

Munro College moved into second place on 15 points, two more than Lacovia after beating Black River 5-0 with Oneeko Allen scoring three times.

Ennis also bagged a hat-trick for Glenmuir as they secured their place in the Inter-zone joining Zone M leaders Garvey Maceo, who beat Foga Road 2-0 with two goals from Gavin Roberts.

Dinthill Technical went on a scoring spree, blasting McGrath High 18-0 in Zone K, as Kaheem Parris scored six and Shamari Davis got four in the rampage.

It was Dinthill Technical’s eighth-straight win, as they improved to 24 points, 10 more than second-placed Bog Walk, who beat Guy’s Hill 5-1 with Kwesi Innswood scoring three.

The contest for second place in Zone H continues to be close as both Thompson Town and Lennon High won their games yesterday.

Thompson Town beat Edwin Allen High 2-0 to improve to 15 points, three behind leaders Clarendon College, who have already qualified for the second round.

Lennon High hammered Knox College 9-0, as Quincy Watts scored four times and Damani Cross got a double, as they moved to 10 points.