MAY PEN, Clarendon — The race for places in the semi-finals of the ISSA/Wata daCosta Cup and the first round of the ISSA Presidents Cup is expected to be raised a few notches today when the quarter-finals get underway with four games, all set to start at 3:00 pm.

Defending champions Clarendon College takes on Christiana High at Manchester High and Glenmuir High will be at home to Manchester High in Group A, while BB Coke High and Garvey Maceo High meets at the St Elizabeth Technical Sports Complex in Santa Cruz and Dinthill Technical and Cornwall College face-off at the Ewarton Sports Complex.

The teams will play three games each, once against teams in their groups and the top two from each group will advanced to the semi-finals and the President’s Cup while the other four schools will contest the Ben Francis KO.

Only three schools from last year are back in the quarter-finals — Clarendon College, Dinthill Tech and Manchester High — while Christiana High, Cornwall College and Garvey Maceo return after missing last season, while Glenmuir High are back for the first time since the 2017 season.

After stalling at the Round of 16 last season and picking up just one point in the quarter-finals between the 2015 and 2017 seasons, Glenmuir High will hope to get off to a fast start when they host Manchester High who are coming off a 2-0 win over Happy Grove High on Saturday to salvage their place in this round.

Manchester High lost their perfect record a week ago when they were outscored 4-2 by BB Coke High and will need to be at their best against a quietly confident Glenmuir High team.

Christiana High have managed to stay under the radar all season but earned their place in the last eight after taking the runner-up spot behind Dinthill Technical in their Round of 16 group.

They will face a Clarendon College team that were pushed to the limit by Cornwall College on Saturday before escaping with a 1-1 draw against Cornwall College and will be back to full strength today with the return of centre half Nahshon Bolt-Barrett who served a one-match suspension after being sent off against St Elizabeth Technical a week ago.

Bolt-Barrett is expected to reinforce what is already a sturdy defence that has only conceded three goals all season, spanning 14 games played so far.

Cornwall College will be hoping for a repeat of last season when they upset Dinthill Technical in a Round of 16 game, when they meet at the Ewarton Sports Complex.

Dinthill Technical has been relatively quiet this season, compared to recent seasons when they were listed among the title favourites before coming up short.

After being held 0-0 by McGrath High they rebounded with a 1-0 win over Christiana High and a 2-1 win over William Knibb Memorial to top their Round of 16 zone but faces a Cornwall College team still riding the high of holding Clarendon College to a draw on Saturday.

The BB Coke High vs Garvey Maceo High game has the potential to be one of the best competitions on the day and if any team manage a win, it would be a big confidence booster.

BB Coke High are the only team to win all three Round of 16 games and will be on a high while Garvey Maceo are coming off back to back wins, edging Frome Technical 1-0 before beating Port Antonio High 4-1.