LUCEA, Hanover — Defending champions Rusea’s High yesterday became the 11th team to book a spot in the second round of the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association/Wata daCosta Cup competition after swamping hapless Merlene Ottey High 10-0 in their Zone B return-round game at the Colin Miller Sports Complex in Lucea.

Jhavoy Diaz scored his second hat-trick of the season to lead Rusea’s High to their eighth-straight victory, joining Cornwall College and Garvey Maceo High as schools to win their first eight games and to secure their places in the second round.

The other 10 schools that have also secured their second-round places are Cedric Titus, St Elizabeth Technical, Manchester High, Clarendon College, Lennon High, Dinthill Technical, Charlemont High, and Port Antonio High.

Rusea’s High opened up an eight-point lead after second-placed Frome Technical drew 1-1 with third-placed Green Island High, while Cambridge High beat Hopewell High 1-0.

The double-digit score by Rusea’s High was their first since 2015 when they beat Cambridge High 11-1, and they had also beaten Green Island 10-0 in the 2011 season.

The Vassell Reynolds-coached team is coming off an 8-0 win over Cambridge High on Saturday and have scored 39 goals in their eight games.

Yesterday they scored five times in either half as Diaz scored in the 11th, 29th and 61st minutes, while Rasheed Brown, Chen Moodie, Chad Howell, Corey Mathews, Ricardo Scarlett, Raheem Graham, and Ronaldo Nelson also got on the scoresheet.

Carron Hall scored their first win over Zone J leaders St Mary Technical, beating them 3-1 to avenge their first-round 1-0 loss and snap a three-game losing skid against the Richmond-based team that beat them by a 12-0 aggregate last year.

St Mary High used the opportunity to take over the lead after beating Guy’s Hill 2-0 as they improved to 19 points, two more than St Mary Technical both from eight games.

Yesterday’s results

Zone B

Frome Tech-1, Green Island-1

Rusea’s High-10, Merlene Ottey-0

Cambridge-1, Hopewell-0

Zone J

St Mary Tech-1, Carron Hall High-3

Guys Hill-0, St Mary High-2