MONTEGO BAY, St j ames — Defending champions Cornwall College are among six teams looking to seal their places in the second round of the ISSA/FLOW daCosta Cup football competition.

Cornwall College and 2008 champions St James High should advance today from Zone A, as well as the winner of the Zone D game between leaders Petersfield High and Little London. Munro College, in Zone E, and Lennon High, in Zone H, could also progress.

They would join the other eight schools that qualified as of Tuesday afternoon. Spot Valley High from Zone C have already qualified, and so too St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) from Zone E, Manchester High from Zone F, Clarendon College from Zone H, St Mary Technical from Zone J, Dinthill Technical from Zone K, Port Antonio High from Zone L, and Glenmuir High from Zone M.

Additionally, Spot Valley, STETHS and Clarendon College could also secure zone honours today and increase their bonus points and rankings in the second round.

Spot Valley are on 22 points and need only a point from their game against Cedric Titus at home to take an unassailable lead in Zone C, as Cedric Titus and Herbert Morrison battle for the runners-up spot.

Cedric Titus, who drew against Spot Valley in the first round, are on 16 points and a draw would keep them ahead of Herbert Morrison Technical, if the Montego Bay-based school manages to beat William Knibb Memorial in Martha Brae.

Herbert Morrison scored five second-half goals in a 7-2 win over William Knibb in the first round.

STETHS, who lead Zone E with 20 points, will win their zone for the ninth-straight year if they can beat Newell High today. Even a draw in that game would see Munro College advance as well, regardless of their result against BB Coke.

A similar situation exists in Zone H where a win for Clarendon College over Edwin Allen would see them win the zone. Lennon High would also advance even if they go down to an unlikely loss to Claude McKay High.

Clarendon College have won all six games played so far and lead with 18 points, five more than second-placed Lennon High.

Cornwall College and St James High are locked on 19 points each, with the latter having a healthy six-goal lead on goal-difference. Anchovy High, who have two games in hand, are third with 10 points.

A win for St James High today, however, would eliminate Anchovy High from contention for one of the two automatic spots, and the two leaders would advance regardless of the result between Cornwall College and Maldon High.

Cornwall College have a debt to settle after they were humbled 1-3 by the south St James-based school in the first round. It snapped their 21-game perfect win record in the daCosta Cup and ended a 26-game unbeaten run.

Maldon were knocked out of contention for a top-two spot on Tuesday when they lost at home to Anchovy who could make a run at one of the two best third-placed spots.

A lot will be riding on the Zone D top-of-the-zone clash between Petersfield High and Little London at Little London today with the winners claiming the first qualifying spot.

One point separates the two with Petersfield High marginally ahead on 16 points from eight games, one more than Little London who have played a game less.

They battled out a 0-0 draw in the first round, and another stalemate today could leave the door open for Mannings School (11 points) and Godfrey Stewart High (10 points). Both those teams will meet at Mannings.

—Paul A Reid

Today’s games

Zone A

Cornwall College vs Maldon

Anchovy vs St James

Green Pond vs Irwin

Zone C

Muschett vs Holland

Spot Valley vs Cedric Titus

William Knibb vs Herbert Morrison

Zone D

Mannings vs Godfrey Stewart

Black River vs Grange Hill

Little London vs Petersfield

Zone E

BB Coke vs Munro College

Lacovia vs Maggotty

Newell vs STETHS

Zone H

Lennon vs Claude McKay

Clarendon College vs Edwin Allen