CATHERINE HALL, St James — Cornwall College came from a goal down to beat Wolmer’s Boys’ 3-2 on penalty kicks and book a place in Saturday’s quarter-finals of the ISSA Champions Cup all-island knockout football competition, in a tense and exciting first-round game played at Montego Bay Sports Complex on Saturday.

Goalkeeper Peter Sinclair, who was celebrating his 18th birthday, was spectacular in the shoot-out, saving two kicks to keep his team in the game after they had played out a 1-1 draw in the 90 minutes of regulation.

It was sweet revenge for Cornwall College after they were beaten 1-0 on virtually the last kick of the final in 2016. Cornwall College and St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS), last year’s losing finalists, are the only rural teams left in the competition.

On Friday’s opening night STETHS eliminated defending champions Kingston College 6-5 in sudden death penalties after they were tied at 1-1. it means that the last two losing finalists have beaten the team they lost to, in the first round this year.

On Saturday Dwayne Allen gave Wolmer’s Boys’ the lead from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute, but Matthew Thorpe levelled for Cornwall College in the 35th minute.

In the shoot-out, Shavon McDonald, Thorpe and Santino Barracks scored for Cornwall College, while Nickardo Murray and Allen were successful for Wolmer’s Boys’.

Sinclair saved consecutive kicks — going to his left to save the second kick taken by Shamar McLean, pushing it off the underside of the cross bar, then going to his right to stop the next shot taken by David Rogers.

With the game tied at 2-2 after Wolmer’s goalkeeper Devon Haughton had saved a kick from Calvin Gardener, Denyu Ricketts hit the post with his shot and Romone Shephard placed his shot wide.

As fate would have it, Barracks was given the chance to make up for his error after giving up the penalty in regulation time, and blasted his kick past Haughton.

Dr Dean Weatherly, the Cornwall College head coach, was happy for the win.

“Playing in Montego Bay it is only fitting that we came away as victors,” he told the Jamaica Observer. “We need to lift up Montego Bay and Cornwall needed this win more than anything else,”he said, as his team extended their unbeaten run this season to 16 games.

“It was a good game, both teams came well prepared,” he said giving credit to the Manning Cup team. “Congrats to Wolmer’s Boys’, but playing in knockout games like these we started out tentatively but as the dust cleared we were able to find our feet and rhythm. Wolmer’s have a lot of talent. they are well coached and kudos to coach Alex Thomas and his brother Shavar, they are a well-coached team.”

It was the second time Cornwall College were forced to go to penalty kicks in the Champions Cup after beating Rusea’s High via the same route in 2016 and Dr Weatherly said it brought out the best in the players.

“It showed that the team has guts and a never-say-die attitude and they never dropped their shoulders at any time during the game and I feel good that they demonstrated that today.”

Thomas said while it was a tough way to lose, he was full of praise for the team. “They played very well, they showed a lot of character tonight.”

He thought it was a tough way to end their season after they promised much but crashed out of the Manning Cup and then lost in the first round of the Champions Cup.

“It was a tough loss but I can only praise the boys, they showed vibes and guts, such is life, the penalty shoot-out could have gone either way,” he said as he agreed that this was not the way they expected the season to end.