Adrian Frater, News Editor

Western Bureau:

Defending champions St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) qualified to defend their Ben Francis Cup Knockout title yesterday afternoon, when they blanked Lacovia High 3-0 to win Zone F of the 2011 ISSA/Gato-rade/Digicel daCosta Cup.

The STETHS team, who lifted their points tally to 31, got their goals courtesy of a double strike from Kevon Farquharson and a fabulous long-range free kick by Kaycee Bloomfield.

"Our first objective was to qualify for the inter-zone round and our second objective was to qualify for the Ben Francis Cup," said STETHS coach Andrew Edwards.

"I now believe we are on target to retain our Ben Francis title and then go on to win the daCosta Cup."

In the other Zone F game, Munro College consolidated their second position behind STETHS when an Amin Miller hat-trick gave them a 3-0 win against deCarteret, which lifted them to 25 points.

In Zone A, St James High revived their inter-zone hopes yesterday afternoon when they clip Muschette High School 1-0 to reclaim the lead in the group with 23 points. In the same group, Spot Valley (20) and Green Pond (17) battle to a 1-1 draw, which has left their inter-zone aspirations in trouble.

In Zone B, Rusea's extended their impressive 100 per cent win record to 11 games when they scored a 5-0 win against Maldon, lifting their goal tally to 63. Star striker Brian 'Rambo' Brown, who scored twice, has now scored 24 times.

The race for second place in Zone B took a wicked twist as Frome Technical suffered a surprise 2-1 loss to Knockalva to stay on 24 points while Anchovy High clipped Merlene Ottey 2-1 to join them on 24 points going into Saturday's final round games.