CATHERINE HALL, St James — Cornwall College, the most successful rural area football team with nearly 30 titles, will seek to add to their daCosta Cup tally when they take on defending champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) in the final of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/FLOW-sponsored competition at the Montego Bay Sports Complex on Saturday, starting at 6:00pm.

The Montego Bay-based institution with 11 daCosta Cup titles is into their first final in 15 years, since the treble-winning 2001 team, and will face a STETHS team that have played in the last five finals, winning three.

Of the record 89 teams that started the competition in September, the battle between the two finalists – Cornwall College and STETHS – promises to be one of the best in years. Both teams qualified for the final after similar 2-1 scorelines in the semi-finals played last week.

The Dr Dean Weatherly-coached Cornwall College beat Clarendon College 2-1 at STETHS on Friday, their second semi-final win over Clarendon this season after beating them in the FLOW Super Cup a month ago.

STETHS, coached by Omar “Rambo” Wedderburn, got sweet revenge on Lennon High at Manchester High on Saturday, a week after Lennon High had wrestled the Ben Francis KO Cup from their grasp, following six consecutive wins.

The teams have not met at this level since 1998 when Cornwall College “upset” the fancied STETHS in the semi-final round 1-0 at Jarrett Park, with the St Elizabeth team needing only a draw to advance.

Cornwall College will, however, hope to make amends for their loss in the ISSA Rural Area Under-16 final in 2013 when they were dethroned by STETHS at Manchester High, winning 1-0 in extra time.

This weekend, no fewer than 20 players from both teams who took part in that game three years ago will be in action to crown the 61st champion in the island’s biggest football competition, in terms of the number of participants.

Both teams are into their second final this season, Cornwall College were beaten 1-0 in the FLOW Super Cup final by Wolmer’s Boys’, while STETHS were beaten on penalty kicks by Lennon High in the Ben Francis KO.

Cornwall College will come into Saturday’s game with a record 17-game winning streak in the daCosta Cup, but will be up against a STETHS team that is among the most experienced in schoolboy football, with the senior players being involved in at least six finals over the past few seasons.

STETHS, however, will be without top striker Romeo Wright who broke his leg earlier in the season, while Jovoney Brown, who has scored 19 goals this season but missed the last few games, could play a part in Saturday’s game – his final in schoolboy competition – if needed. If Brown is unable to start, Demar James, Alex Thompson and Tahjae Palmer will be the players in the hunt for goals against one of the toughest defences in the competition this season, allowing eight goals from 17 games, and three in their last five games.

STETHS has shown some cracks in their usually tough armour this season and have had to battle their way back from deficits, but they are usually the most reliable team at this stage of the season.

After scoring 27 goals, Cornwall College’s Jourdaine Fletcher has been held scoreless in his team’s last three games and has scored just once in their last four, a second-half penalty kick in a quarter-final game against Manchester High on November 9.

Aiden Jokomba, Garnett Hudson and defensive players Giovanni Reid and Pagiel Brown have stepped up, but it is expected that Fletcher and Peter-Lee Vassell will lead the attack on Saturday.