GRANVILLE, St James — Maldon High booked their first-ever second-round spot in the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/Wata daCosta Cup football competition, after a dramatic 1-1 draw with Green Pond High in the Zone A return game at Granville Community Centre on Saturday.

After disappointingly missing out on the final day of first-round action last season, the historic accomplishment on Saturday produced an emotional atmosphere. Maldon Coach Dillon Thelwell held his chest and sat on a cooler after the final whistle, a number of his players broke down in tears, and fans and family members celebrated with some players on the field.

While fighting to hold back his emotions Thelwell told the Jamaica Observer he never doubted his team, though they had trailed late in the game.

“We have the offence to give us the goal at any time, it is just to get rid of the emotions and continue to play the game. And I know once we continued to play, the goal would come — even in the last minute,” he said.

He said being painfully denied last season was never on his mind.

Thelwell added: “Every season is different. We are not one of those schools that get a lot of talent and can replace players, so each year we have to work with what we have.

“This is a great achievement for the school; it is something we have never achieved before so I think it shows that something good is going on at Maldon High for the past four years.”

This same core of players, he said, had qualified for the semi-finals in the ISSA Under-14 competition and were twice semi-finalists at the Under-16 level.

Maldon High, nestled in the hills of southern St James, needed a point to finish ahead of Green Pond on goal difference. They earned that point after late substitute Domonique Clarke volleyed home from a goalmouth melee in the fifth and final minute of stoppage time.

Green Pond had taken the lead in the 85th minute through Garth-Dane Bromwell. They had appeared to be well on their way to back-to-back wins to end the first round, as well as a place in the second round for the first time since 2019, until the late drama.

Maldon High joined six other teams that filled out the 30 automatic spots in the second round. Only the best third-placed teams are left to be decided on Monday.

On Saturday, defending champions Clarendon College advanced from Zone H despite losing 1-2 to Denbigh High, who also made progress, along with Central High.

Former champions Frome Technical, Rusea’s High and St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) are also through to the next round.

Denbigh High avenged their first-round loss to Clarendon College, winning 2-1 at Denbigh for only their second-ever victory over the many-time daCosta Cup champions.

Central High, who outscored Lennon High 3-2, took over the lead in Zone H with 19 points. They are followed by Clarendon Collge (18 points) and Denbigh High (16), with one game each left to be played on Monday.

Stevaughn Spence scored a hat-trick (77th, 86th and 92nd minutes) as Frome Technical beat Anchovy High 3-0 to move to 23 points in Zone B. Rusea’s joined them after a 1-0 win over Green Island High.

STETHS ended their Zone E schedule on a high with a 2-1 win over early qualifiers and zone winners Munro College, at STETHS Sports Complex, to book their spot in the round of 32.

Glenmuir High, early qualifiers who won their first eight games, were beaten 1-2 by Garvey Maceo High in their Zone I game. Glenmuir have therefore lost back-to-back games for the first time in more than two seasons.

Manning’s School won their eighth-straight match, hammering Grange Hill High 6-0. Gregory Phillips scored four goals, while one each came from Keandre Ellis and Zachry Clarke.