KINGSTON, Jamaica— Kingston Technical High School (KTHS) were stunned by Excelsior High in the quarter-finals of the ISSA/Digicel Manning Cup last Saturday, going down to a heavy 3-1 defeat to the former champions at the Stadium East Field.

The Central Kingston based school had enjoyed a fairly good first round in the competition, taking the big scalps of Jamaica College and St George’s College on their way to finishing second in Group A, “the group of death”, and went into the quarter-finals full of confidence.

But a tactically aware Excelsior High team limited the impact of KTHS star player Maquan Aldridge while getting the job done offensively, as they made good use of being gifted a way back into the competition following the decision by ISSA to remove Camperdown High and Tivoli Gardens High from Group B due to use of ineligible players.

KTHS head coach Shaun Charlton blamed immaturity for the heavy defeat of his team in their opening quarter-final game.

“What happened for us was immaturity and inconsistency. Our concentration level fell in the latter part of the game because we were in the game up to the 80

^th

 minute, but immaturity got us,” he explained.

A defiant Charlton is refusing to throw in the towel, however, and has promised that he and his boys will get it right in the next two games.

“It’s not how you start but how you finish. We started the first round the same way and then we won four games on the trot, so we have to ‘wheel and come again’ and get it right,” he said.

Having lost their first game of the season to Charlie Smith High and then recovering to make it to the quarter-finals, Charlton is hoping that the lessons learned along the way this season will help them get over the challenges of this knockout phase of the competition.