Campion hoping to build on last season’s momentum

CAMPION COLLEGE head coach Newton Sterling says his team is determined to build on last season’s surprise run to the quarterfinals of the ISSA/WATA Manning Cup after edging Papine 1-0 in Zone D action yesterday.

Blaine Bucknor scored the decisive goal in the 81st minute to hand Campion their second straight win of the season.

“We got too many chances to not score more goals, but nevertheless the win was very important for us and we just have to go back to the drawing board and fix certain things and come back strong again,” Sterling said.

“The aim is to win the competition because everybody who knows me, knows that everything I enter, I enter to win. But we are just going to take it one game at a time, and so I am not going to burden or overload the boys with saying we are here to win the league.”

“The aim first is to get to the quarterfinals and then surpass that. They are pretty confident that they can do it, and even though we have a lot of young players from last year, they are still confident,” Sterling added.

Meanwhile, Norman Manley High School maintained their perfect start with a 3-0 victory over Penwood at Maxfield Park. Goals from Raynick Waisome, Hernando Henry, and Davine Dodd sealed the points for the Maxfield Park-based school, who have now won back-to-back games in Zone D.

Campion College and Norman Manley are tied atop the zone with six points each.

Assistant coach of Norman Manley Jahmoy Green praised the progress of his young squad.

“We have a very young team and this is the same team from last year and they are coming on pretty well, so I just want them to stay focused and not get carried away,” Green said.

“We have collected six points from our first two games and that is massive for us.”

He added: “One must remember that we only won one game last year, and so we are right on track to do some great things this year. The first hurdle is to advance out of the zone and we will just take it from there because I know these boys are very talented and they also have the ability to do well this season.

“They are willing to learn and are putting in the work every day in training, and I am very proud of them. I know the sky’s the limit for this team.”

In Zone E, Calabar registered their first win of the season with a dominant 6-0 triumph over Pembroke Hall at the Excelsior field.

Yesterday’s results

Norman Manley 3-0 Penwood

Calabar 5-0 Pembroke Hall

Campion College 1-0 Papine

Ascott 0-0 Dunoon Park

Today’s games

Bridgeport vs Jonathan Grant

Excelsior vs Hydel

St George’s College vs Holy Trinity

Gaynstead vs St Jago

Haile Selassie vs Kingston College

Tarrant vs Denham Town

Tivoli Gardens vs Kingston Technical

Charlie Smith Jose Marti

Eltham vs St Catherine

Clan Carthy vs Innswood

Mona vs Meadowbrook

Hillel vs Wolmer’s Boys