Adrian Frater, News Editor

Herbert Morrison's Akhail Lee (right) dribbles away from a Maldon defender in Wednesday's daCosta Cup game in Montego Bay. Herbert Morrison won 1-0. - Adrian frater

western bureau

If the vast number of goals that are being scored in the 2006 ISSA/Pepsi/JN daCosta Cup is anything to go by, it would appear that Jamaica either has some fantastic strikers in the making or our young defenders and goalkeepers are relatively tame.

After 78 games in the competition, which is being contested by 65 teams divided in 12 zones, a grand total of 212 goals have been scored - almost an average of three goals per game.

Small gap

"The gap between the schools have tightened up considerably in recent years so I think an average of three goals per game is quite good," said former national technical director Wendell Downswell. "This must be a tribute to the young strikers when you consider that the emerging schools are now on par with the traditional high schools."

While the competition's opening game, the Zone C clash between champions Godfrey Stewart and Manning's only yield one goal, subsequent games such as St.Elizabeth Technical's (STETHS) 9-0 trashing of Maggotty in a Zone E game and Fair Prospect's 8-0 baptism of newcomer Paul Bogle in Zone L match-up have been high-scoring goal-feast.

Goal-scoring record

The goal-scoring record in the twelve zones currently reads as follows: Zone A -6, Zone B -18, Zone C -17, Zone D -8, Zone E- 40, Zone F - 11, Zone G - 6, Zone H - 9, Zone I - 23, Zone J -14, Zone K -19 and Zone L -41.

In terms of individual numbers, STETHS has the best scoring record, notching up 20 goals in three games after blanking Maggotty 9-0, Newell 6-0 and Lacovia 5-0.

However, Fair Prospect, which has scored 13 goals and given up two, has the top-scorer in Roger Wilson, who started the season with a five-goal haul and has since added another five.

While STETHS obviously has the best overall record with their 20 goals for and none against, for schools such as Zone E contenders Lacovia and Newell, which have conceded 19 and 12 goals respectively with opening their account, it has been a miserable season to date.

With ISSA offering a lucrative prize packages this year in areas such as: Winning School - $180,000, Most Valuable Player (MVP) -$50,000, Player of the Month - $10,000 and the Golden Ball award for the competition's leading goal-scorer, the incentive to do well is much greater than former years.