Jemaine Lannaman, Gleaner Writer

With the preliminary round completed, the twelve remaining Manning Cup teams - Jamaica College (JC), Kingston College (KC), Wolmer's Boys, St George's College, Calabar High, Excelsior High, St Andrew Technical, Norman Manley High, Tivoli Gardens, Bridgeport High, Waterford High and Eltham High - have been divided into three groups.

In Group I, which could be referred to as the most difficult of the three, a torrid tussle is expected among KC, Wolmer's, Norman Manley and Bridgeport, while in Group II, Calabar and Excelsior are the top two ahead of St Andrew Technical and Tivoli. Group III, will see champions JC and St George's going up against St Catherine hopefuls Eltham and Waterford.

convincing form

In reaching this far, nearly all of the qualifiers were in convincing form, with Tivoli Comprehensive being the only exception. The boys from west Kingston, who finished second in Group A to Norman Manley, narrowly pipped preseason group favourites Charlie Smith for the second spot. Campion and Tarrant finished way off the radar.

In Group B, from which Calabar and Waterford qualified, both were in devastating form, putting away Donald Quarrie, Ascot and St Mary's College, while in Group C, JC and Wolmer's were just too good for Jonathan Grant, Mona, Denham Town and Vauxhall.

Group D, which comprised St Catherine teams only, saw Eltham and Bridgeport emerging from a relatively closely contested group as it was not until midway the return matches that they separated themselves from Jose Marti, St Jago, Innswood and Cumberland.

Over in Group E, where Excelsior and St George's triumphed, Camperdown, Dunoon, Ardenne and, to a lesser extent, Greater Portmore, tried but in the end the top two were just too good. In Group F, which went to St Andrew Technical and Kingston College, St Catherine, Penwood, Kingston High, and Edith Dalton James lacked the requisite skills to pose any serious threats.

With more than 30 goals between them so far this season, any team would wish to be anywhere else but in the crosshairs of North Street's hitmen, Kemal Malcolm of St George's and Kingston College's McKaulay Tulloch.

Though others have hit the net regularly in a high-scoring first round, it's tough to argue that the strikers from neighbouring schools, known to share an unhealthy sibling rivalry at times, were the toast of the preliminary phase. Malcolm, captain of the Light Blues, currently heads the pack, having hit the target some 20 times, while Fortis leader Tulloch, who was the competition's early pacesetter, is not too far off with 15.

Although experiencing somewhat of a breakout season, finding the back of the net is nothing new for Malcolm. Hailing from the community of Grants Pen, the past student of Lannaman's Prep was a regular on match cards, even in those days scoring some 42 goals in his final season at the school. It has, however, taken a bit longer to experience that sort of success at the high school level.

More mature

"I'm a bit more mature than I was the last couple of seasons, it means a lot more now, so I take training very seriously and have really had to put in a lot more work this season," the final-year student told The Gleaner.

"We also had a preseason camp this year and I think that was also very beneficial to both myself and the team," he added.

The forward's goalscoring prowess has earned him the adoration of the George's loyals, as the fans pray for the celebration of their first title since 1992. However, for Malcolm the team is always first.

"We have a good chance, I think, but we have a way to go and we have to improve and focus more as a team on our defensive qualities," he said. Though they have scored some 38 goals the team's defence has been breached on 13 occasions, far more often than any of the competition's other serious contenders.

"For me personally it's not that important that I score what matters is the team effort, after all, it is the wins that count," Malcolm said.

"I get the individual praise for scoring but when we win or when we lose the score belongs to the team, and in the end it will be the school that gets the glory," he added.

For Tulloch, who was a member of the National Under-17 team under now deceased coach David Hunt, getting the goals is grand but teamwork is the real key to success.

"The team is always the most important thing when I go out there; the fact of the matter is, without them I cannot score," Tulloch told The Gleaner.

Physical work

"I did a lot of physical work in the off season and in training I spend a lot of time in front of goal, just shooting and things like that," the forward outlined as some of the keys to his success.

Like Malcolm, Tulloch also fancies his team's chances of winning a title, a first for the 14-time champions since 1986.

"Based on what we have put in on the training ground, I think we have a very good shot at winning this year. It has been 22 years since we last won the cup and we would love to win it," he said.