CHAMPIONS St George's College (STGC) tackle XLCR, KC face 'Jago' in Walker Cup kick-off...XLCR High, the green and yellow aggregation from Mountain View has won the trophy seven times

BY HOWARD WALKER Observer senior reporter walkerh@jamaicaobserver.com  Friday, October 16, 2015    

CHAMPIONS St George's College will start their defence of the ISSA/Flow Walker Cup knockout when they tackle Excelsior High at 1:00 pm before Kingston College (KC) take on St Jago High at 3:00 pm at the Constant Spring field.

Members of the St George’s College team celebrate with the
Walker Cup after defeating Jamaica College 3-2 last year
 for the title. (OBSERVER FILE PHOTO)

The Walker Cup was introduced as a Corporate Area knockout competition in 1961, and was won by St George's College (STGC) last year. They are the most successful school, with nine titles, and they are once again fancied to lift the trophy this year.

But before the 'Light Blues' can etch their name on the cup for a 10th time, Neville Bell will have to get his boys in the right frame of mind to thwart the challenge of Excelsior that is no stranger to winning the Walker Cup.

The green and yellow aggregation from Mountain View has won the trophy seven times, the last being in 2008, and could surprise their more fancied rival today.

Despite laden with talent, STGC have shown that they can be beaten, losing twice this season to Innswood High and Denham Town High in the Manning Cup first round.

Gregory Messam Jnr, who scored in STGC's 3-2 win last year against Jamaica College in the final, will again be a major factor in St George's push to retain their title. The likes of Shevon Stewart, Alex Marshall, Hakim Williams, Dominic James, Stephan Gilzene, Paul Young Jr, and Jerome Coombs will be hard to deny.

The Boris Johnson-coached Excelsior have not set the schoolboy season alight, but they are improving with every game and could upset the apple cart.

File Photo of XLCR Team in Past (Excelsiorhighja.com)

Christopher Thorpe will lead from in front and should be ably supported by Thorne Buchanan, Cadine Graham, Voshoy Williams, Raewin Senior, and Roshod Nembhard.

Meanwhile, in the second match, a young and promising KC unit and St Jago High meet in what should be an exciting encounter between two attacking teams.

KC, who first won the Walker Cup in 1963, is the second most successful school with eight titles, the last of which came 15 years ago in 2000.

Coach Ludlow Bernard's young charges, with an average age of 16, will be severely tested by a prolific St Jago team that has banged in 26 goals, the third most this season behind STGC (39) and Hydel High (31). more