WESTERN BUREAU:

LACOVIA HIGH, who won Zone E of the competition's preliminary round, created history yesterday when they swamped Bellefield 4-0 to edge Paul Bogle for the final quarter-final round place in the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup.

Lacovia, who completed their fixture with six points - the same as Ben Francis champions St James High, Manchester High and Paul Bogle, emerged with a superior goal difference to Manchester High and Paul Bogle to join St James as the best of the second-place finishers in the quarter-finals.

Goal difference

The goal difference saw St James at +5, Lacovia +4, Paul Bogle +3 and Manchester High 0.

"I don't know how to express the way I am feeling, it is just a fantastic experience for us," said Jehu Miller, the head of the Physical Education Department at Lacovia High. "This is great for the school and the community because it is a new and most pleasant experience," Miller said.

The jubilation was similar at St James High where it was discovered that there was an error in initial reports that Paul Bogle had qualified ahead of them following Wednesday's games in which they defeated Cedric Titus 4-0 and Paul Bogle spanked Annotto Bay 4-0.

"We are just happy and relieved," said Pastor Hugh Solomon, the coach of the St James High team, which is focussing on adding the daCosta Cup to its Ben Francis KO title. "We are now looking ahead to the quarter-finals as we remain convinced that we can take both rural titles," Solomon said.