By Howard Walker, Staff Reporter 
Excelsior's Ricardo Haynes tries to get past a tackle from Kemar Jackson of Wolmer's during the final game of the ISSA Pepsi/Sports Plus Manning Cup second round match at Prison Oval on Wednesday. Excelsior won the game 4-0. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer
THE SEMI-FINALS of the Walker Cup knockout competition is on today as the unbeaten Excelsior take on Mona High at 3:00 p.m. and Camperdown tackle Wolmer's at 1:00 p.m. at Emmet Park, the grounds of St. George's College.
A new champion will be crowned as defending champions, St. Jago, never made it past the first round thus failing to qualify for the Walker Cup. Only two teams can win the Corporate Area double of the Manning and Walker Cups and those are Excelsior and Camperdown.
Last season, Excelsior took a double but it was the Manning Cup and Oliver Shield that they shared with Frome, the daCosta Cup champions.
This season, the Leebert Halliman-coached Excelsior seem set for an assault on the coveted triple crown in schoolboy football. The green and yellow-clad boys from Mountain View Avenue, winners on five occasions the last being 14 years ago in 1990 look set to make this number six.
Only Kingston College with eight and St. George's with seven titles, have won the Walker Cup more than Excelsior since the competition's inception in 1961.
It will take a special effort from Walker Cup newcomers Mona to stop the Excelsior juggernaut from rolling on.
Though not impossible, it should provide one of the most exciting games for the season if Mona are motivated.
Halliman has singled out Mona as the team with the most 'talented individuals' which could spell trouble for Excelsior if they play as a team.
PROMISE TO BRING HOME A TROPHY
Dwight James, coach of Mona, has promised to bring home a trophy to the Principal's office this season, but it will be a tall order.
The curtain-raiser between two-time champions Camperdown and Wolmer's will also be an intriguing affair. After faltering so badly in their last two matches and dropping out of the Manning Cup, the maroon and gold-clad boys from Heroes Circle will have to lift their minds and game to get by a stubborn Camperdown.
Wolmer's will be looking for their first Walker Cup title in 33 years.
Vassell Reynolds, coach of the 1971 winners, pointed to the problem of motivating the players following their Manning Cup exit.
"I think that 4-0 is a little bit demoralising," he said of his team's flogging by Excelsior that knocked them out of Manning Cup contention. "But the fact that we are in the semi-finals means there is something to play for."
Meanwhile, two-time champions Camperdown, coached by Barrington Gaynor who was part of the 1982 triple crown-winning team, will be looking for their first win in 16 years.
Camperdown squeezed through to the Manning Cup's last four and should be confident enough to brush aside the demotivated Wolmer's. However, the red and blue-clad boys from east Kingston may be distracted, with the Manning Cup on
their mind.
