CATHERINE HALL, St James — Something will have to give today when former champions Cornwall College and Clarendon College, both unbeaten in the competition all year, meet in what is expected to be a mouth-watering and exciting final of the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Wata daCosta Cup at Montego Bay Sports Complex at 6:00 pm.

Today’s game is a repeat of the final 20 years ago at Jarrett Park, between two teams who have combined to win 19 titles. Cornwall College winning their record 12th two years ago, while Clarendon College, who are in back-to-back finals, won their seventh in 2014, both times against St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS).

Clarendon College’s coach Lenworth Hyde told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that they were seeking “to avoid what happened last year” when they gave up a first-half lead to lose to Rusea’s High in the final, while Cornwall College’s Dr Dean Weatherly said he had warned his players against “getting erratic; we must stay calm and keep our focus”.

Both teams are unbeaten all year in the daCosta Cup and are quietly confident they will succeed despite contrasting wins in the semi-finals last week. Clarendon College dismissed Dinthill Technical 4-0 with all four goals coming in the second half, while Cornwall College only got past a determined Frome Technical 4-2 on penalty kicks after being held 0-0 after 90 minutes.

Clarendon College have won all 14 games played so far while Cornwall College have drawn one of their 16 games played, against St James High in the first round.

Cornwall have played 20 games overall, however, winning all four in the ISSA Champions Cup, conceding one goal in regulation time over the period, while Clarendon College were beaten in the first round, on penalty kicks by Charlie Smith High.

Today’s game will pit two teams with contrasting styles, against each other the flamboyance of Clarendon College against the rugged, structured defensive style of Cornwall College.

Cornwall College are seeking their second title in two weeks after becoming the first daCosta Cup team to win the ISSA Champions Cup following their 1-0 win over Jamaica College in the final, last weekend, also at the Montego Bay Sports Complex.

If there is one thing in common with the teams it is that they don’t give up goals. Cornwall College gave up nine in their 16 daCosta Cup games while Clarendon College have given up a mere four in their 14 games.

While Clarendon College, coached then by Patrick ‘Jackie’ Walters, got the better of Cornwall College in the final 20 years ago, Cornwall College have had the better of them in recent meetings.

Cornwall College won their meeting in the semi-finals of the then Super Cup 3-2 at Sabina Park in 2016 and then 2-1 in the semi-finals of the daCosta Cup at St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex days later.

The winning goal at STETHS was scored by Aiden Jokomba, who came off the bench in the second half to score in the 88th minute to send Cornwall College into the final, and Clarendon College home empty handed.

Jokomba is one of four players who were in the team then and is the top scorer for Cornwall College this season with 19 goals.

Shavon McDonald, who scored the winner last week against Jamaica College, has developed a knack for scoring big goals after he also came off the bench to score the winner in the daCosta Cup final in 2016 and has been the driving force in the team this year.

Dr Weatherly said last weekend’s victory “is in the past” and has nothing to do with today’s game which he said is the more important competition.

“A different day, a different approach,” he told the Observer yesterday. “The daCosta Cup was our primary target all year. In a way it is even more important to us than the Champions Cup as we started the season with the Olivier Shield as the target and to get there we have to go through this channel. These boys all agreed that this was the target; we are here to make it happen and there will be no letting up.”

Getting the Champions Cup out of the way, he said, made training this past week even better. “Training this week was great, considering the euphoria of the Champions Cup; the boys have grown as the season has progressed and after the celebrations, they got back to training on Tuesday with a renewed gusto and we worked hard.”

He was under no delusion what they were up against, saying Clarendon College were a different team to any they have faced all year, with more weapons. “We just have to defend stoutly and disciplined; we can’t be erratic on the day, but stay focussed on the tasks that we give them.”

Hyde refused to accept the tag as favourites, given their glittering record coming into the game. “No, no, no. We are not accepting that at all. Yes, we are confident but not over confident. The vibes are good and the spirits are high.”

Last year Clarendon College came into the final in the same position as they are today, unbeaten and riding a wave, but Hyde said they learned from mistakes made last year.

“Last year was a learning process for us. We can’t make the same mistakes; last year we did not have a good second half, maybe it was the crowd and excitement that got to the players but we are more experienced this year and this will help us.”

With 63 goals scored, Clarendon College are a potent offensive machine and the last goal they gave up in the daCosta Cup came in a 3-1 win over St James High in their third quarter-final game when they trailed at half-time. They also trailed Charlie Smith in their Champions Cup game before a late goal sent the game to penalty kicks.

Prior to the game against St James High, they had gone six games without conceding a goal after a 5-1 win over Kellits High in Zone H on October 2.

Cornwall College could have an advantage with their run in the Champions Cup, giving their players more time to build their confidence and to develop a better understanding.

Dr Weatherly said yesterday they were forced to concentrate on defence at the start of the season with only Calvin Gardener getting significant playing time the last two years and having to “rebuild almost from scratch”.

The work has paid off with first-year goalkeeper Peter Sinclair and Gardener anchoring a defensive unit that has risen to the occasion, giving up two goals in one game only once all year despite playing in a competitive Zone A in the first round and the so-called “Group of Death” in the quarter-finals.

Cornwall College trailed 1-2 against Garvey Maceo in their second quarter-final game but rebounded to win that game 3-2 and since the start of the second round, they have allowed one goal in 585 minutes and 427 since Wolmer’s Boys’ scored a penalty kick in the first half of their first-round game in the Champions Cup.

They also started the season playing solid defence and went 414 minutes before conceding their first goal, in a 4-1 win at Maldon High in Zone A.

They will, however, face a team that had made scoring look easy, as they did in the second half against Dinthill Technical when they picked apart the team on their way to a good win.

Nicque Daley and Ricardo McIntosh were part of the Jamaica National Under-20 team that just failed to advance past the first round of the Concacaf Championships last month and will lead the attack that, except for one game, against Charlie Smith, has imposed their will.

Everything comes through the mercurial Lamar Walker, however, and the midfield match-up could decide where the daCosta Cup ends up at the end of the game.

McDonald, Santino Barracks and Matthew Thorpe will be the best midfield that Clarendon would have faced all year and Walker, Roderick Granville and Javelle Ellis could have their work cut out for them.

Jokomba has been the target man for Cornwall for the entire season, scoring almost half of their goals, but has been locked down in their last two games, against Frome Technical and Jamaica College, but as he showed against St George’s College in the Champions Cup semi-finals, he will be difficult to contain for long periods.

Solano Birch and Thorpe have scored big goals this year, Birch getting the winner against Glenmuir High in the quarter-finals, his last goal, while Thorpe got the winner against Garvey Maceo and then the equaliser against Wolmer’s Boys.