CATHERINE HALL, St James — Clarendon College will be going after their second rural area double this afternoon when they take on Rusea’s High School in the final of the ISSA/FLOW daCosta Cup competition at the Montego Bay Sports Complex, starting at 6:00 pm.

Clarendon College, who have lost just once all season, won the Ben Francis KO earlier, beating Dinthill Technical in the final, and are on course to match their 1998 season’s haul when they won the double and shared the Olivier Shield with Dunoon Technical.

Both camps, as expected, are confident they will lift the trophy at the end of what is expected to be a pulsating final between two teams that are playing at their best at the right time.

They are also coming off good wins in the semi-finals played last week Tuesday at the same venue, both winning by 5-2 margins — Clarendon College shaking off a pesky Dinthill Technical, while Rusea’s came from a goal down to beat St Elizabeth Technical, ending their string of six straight appearances in the final.

The game will pit two coaches who are in their first season at their respective schools and who have links to Clarendon College, both playing daCosta Cup there — Vassell Reynolds on the Rusea’s High bench and Byjeon Thomas on the Clarendon College bench.

Thomas, who also played under Vassell at Wolmer’s Boys in the Manning Cup, said he was expecting a lot of changes from Reynolds who told the Jamaica Observer this week they were preparing for every eventuality.

This will be the second time that the schools, who have combined to win the symbol of rural area schoolboys’ football supremacy 17 times in the last 40 years, will meet in a final since Clarendon won their first in 1977.

Rusea’s High beat Clarendon College 2-1 when they met in the 1990 final played at St Elizabeth Technical and boast a 2-0 margin over Clarendon after also beating them in the 1996 Ben Francis KO finals at Jarrett Park.

The Clarendon College team, which their manager Richard Palmer likens to the all-conquering 1977 group, boasts a fearsome attacking force led by striker Nique Daley who has scored 12 goals in six daCosta Cup games since the start of the second round.

“I don’t think it will be a test of wills between us… but whichever team does the job on the day,” he said.

Their loss to Calabar High in the first round of the FLOW Super Cup apart, Clarendon are perfect in the season and Thomas said the confidence in the camp was high, but he was cautious towards the end.

“The same can be said of Rusea’s as well, as they are a very good team and been in the final is self-explanatory and we just have to be ready for the task at hand,” Thomas said.

Reynolds, who beat Clarendon College in his only game against them while at Wolmer’s Boys two years ago in the quarter-finals of the FLOW Super Cup, says “We are almost 100 per cent healthy.”

The mental part of the preparation, Reynolds told the Observer, is very key.

“It’s all about the mind and that’s where we are focused now on getting the players to have that positive mindset,” he noted.

When asked about facing a potent Clarendon College attack, Reynolds was candid and said: “On paper, they are the most prolific attacking team in rural area schoolboyfootball, but we are not frightened about it.”

Rusea’s High have not been as fluent as Clarendon, drawing three games in their first round, losing to Browns Town in the first leg of the second-round tie and lost back-to-back games to Dinthill Technical in the Ben Francis KO semi-finals and to Kingston College in the first round of the FLOW Super Cup.

“I think one of the good things with this team is that each time when we stumble we learn from it, from the first match when we lost to Brown’s Town, I saw this team regroup and I know we have the ability to regroup,” Reynolds said.

Among the battles Rusea’s must win today, is to shut down Daley who has scored in every game since the start of the second round in all competitions. Also, the threat from midfield in Lamar Walker, Shande James and Demario Phillips must be contained.

But in Rusea’s their danger will come from the fast-moving trio of Leonardo Fogarthy, Daniel Reid and Nazime Matalie.