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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=1 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><SPAN class=TopStory>Frome win KO title on penalties</SPAN>
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Garfield Myers
Sunday, October 29, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth - Goalkeeper Shamar Mullings covered himself in glory and led Frome Technical High to their first hold on the Ben Francis Cup Knock-out title for rural high schools with a 5-3 penalty kick victory over Clarendon College in the final at STETHS Sports Complex here yesterday.<P class=StoryText align=justify>With the penalty kick score tied (1-1) after two shots, Mullings - described by his coach 'Boysie' Nicholson as "the best penalty kicker in the team" - first slotted home right-footed. He then calmly took his position in goal to block Alleen Annakie's powerful but direct right-foot blast, giving Frome an advantage they would not relinquish.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Frome Technical High School players celebrate with the Ben Francis KO Trophy after defeating Clarendon College in the final in Santa Cruz yesterday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson) </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Earlier, 110 minutes (plus) of full and extra time of enthralling end-to-end football - much of it in drenching rain - before an overspill but disciplined crowd had ended 1-1, necessitating the dreaded penalties.
Clarendon had taken the lead in the 26th minute through Gregory Lewis, but that was cancelled out in the 56th by the speedy, tricky Frome striker Sedane McCreath.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Lewis' evening turned sour in the fourth minute of the 20-minute extra time allocation when he was ejected for a second yellow card offence, leaving his team to battle on bravely - one man short.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Mullings apart, others converting penalties for Frome were Obrien Woodbine, Linval Wilson, Odain Ottey and Demar Howard. For Clarendon, Nefta Stewart, Demarky Samuels and Leighton Pinnock converted.
For Frome this was their third Ben Francis final and Nicholson insisted success this time around was all because of Mullings and the defensive line of Paul Graham, Rohan Watson, Linval Wilson (son of the former national player of the same name) and Ottey.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The goalkeeper was my man of the match and we were very, very gritty in defence," said Nicholson, who also praised Clarendon for "dominating" the midfield for much of the game.
Losing coach Kevin Williams - who as a player was tutored by Nicholson at Reno FC years ago - thought his team paid the price for missed chances. "We didn't put away some simple chances and it came back to haunt us," he said.<P class=StoryText align=justify>On a field soaked by heavy showers before the game and throughout most of the second half, Frome were the first to settle. But Clarendon, using the flanks well and unsettling the Frome defence with telling crosses, drew first blood when Samuels raced down the left and crossed for an unmarked Lewis to hammer his right-footed shot through the hands of a despairing Mullings.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Clarendon then stepped up a gear and dominated the rest of the half with Samuels, Stewart and Lewis coming close to scoring.
But Frome stayed in the fight and Woodbine's slick dribble through the inside left position and his shot from an acute angle that shaved the crossbar had the crowd humming as half-time approached.<P class=StoryText align=justify>As they had done against Munro College in the quarter-final a week earlier, Frome came out strongly in the second half with rain pouring down, and the equalising goal was fully deserved.<P class=StoryText align=justif
<SPAN class=Subheadline></SPAN></TD></TR><TR><TD>Garfield Myers
Sunday, October 29, 2006
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<P class=StoryText align=justify>Santa Cruz, St Elizabeth - Goalkeeper Shamar Mullings covered himself in glory and led Frome Technical High to their first hold on the Ben Francis Cup Knock-out title for rural high schools with a 5-3 penalty kick victory over Clarendon College in the final at STETHS Sports Complex here yesterday.<P class=StoryText align=justify>With the penalty kick score tied (1-1) after two shots, Mullings - described by his coach 'Boysie' Nicholson as "the best penalty kicker in the team" - first slotted home right-footed. He then calmly took his position in goal to block Alleen Annakie's powerful but direct right-foot blast, giving Frome an advantage they would not relinquish.<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=330 align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD><SPAN class=Description>Frome Technical High School players celebrate with the Ben Francis KO Trophy after defeating Clarendon College in the final in Santa Cruz yesterday. (Photo: Garfield Robinson) </SPAN></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><P class=StoryText align=justify>Earlier, 110 minutes (plus) of full and extra time of enthralling end-to-end football - much of it in drenching rain - before an overspill but disciplined crowd had ended 1-1, necessitating the dreaded penalties. Clarendon had taken the lead in the 26th minute through Gregory Lewis, but that was cancelled out in the 56th by the speedy, tricky Frome striker Sedane McCreath.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Lewis' evening turned sour in the fourth minute of the 20-minute extra time allocation when he was ejected for a second yellow card offence, leaving his team to battle on bravely - one man short.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Mullings apart, others converting penalties for Frome were Obrien Woodbine, Linval Wilson, Odain Ottey and Demar Howard. For Clarendon, Nefta Stewart, Demarky Samuels and Leighton Pinnock converted.
For Frome this was their third Ben Francis final and Nicholson insisted success this time around was all because of Mullings and the defensive line of Paul Graham, Rohan Watson, Linval Wilson (son of the former national player of the same name) and Ottey.<P class=StoryText align=justify>"The goalkeeper was my man of the match and we were very, very gritty in defence," said Nicholson, who also praised Clarendon for "dominating" the midfield for much of the game.
Losing coach Kevin Williams - who as a player was tutored by Nicholson at Reno FC years ago - thought his team paid the price for missed chances. "We didn't put away some simple chances and it came back to haunt us," he said.<P class=StoryText align=justify>On a field soaked by heavy showers before the game and throughout most of the second half, Frome were the first to settle. But Clarendon, using the flanks well and unsettling the Frome defence with telling crosses, drew first blood when Samuels raced down the left and crossed for an unmarked Lewis to hammer his right-footed shot through the hands of a despairing Mullings.<P class=StoryText align=justify>Clarendon then stepped up a gear and dominated the rest of the half with Samuels, Stewart and Lewis coming close to scoring.
But Frome stayed in the fight and Woodbine's slick dribble through the inside left position and his shot from an acute angle that shaved the crossbar had the crowd humming as half-time approached.<P class=StoryText align=justify>As they had done against Munro College in the quarter-final a week earlier, Frome came out strongly in the second half with rain pouring down, and the equalising goal was fully deserved.<P class=StoryText align=justif