St James High School's captain Fabian McCarthy (centre) accepts the coveted daCosta Cup from Michael Lee (left), the territory sales manager from Pepsi, and Mark Martin (right), sponsorship and promotion executive of Digicel, following his team's 2-0 win over Spaldings in Saturday's daCosta Cup final at Jarrett Park. - Adrian Frater

Western Bureau

St James High won the ISSA/Pepsi/Digicel daCosta Cup for the first time when they blanked Spaldings High 2-0 in last Saturday's final at Jarrett Park.

The Pastor Hugh Solomon-coached school again got the goals from the prolific strike twins Nicholi Barrett and Allan Ottey, who came into the final sharing a 42-goal tally. Both scored on Saturday. Barrett slammed in his 21st while Ottey's scored his 23rd.

Proud moment

"This is a happy and proud moment and naturally we are elated," Pastor Solomon said after his team's victory.

For Spaldings High, who were losing their first daCosta Cup game of the season, it was a bitter pill because they had control of the game for long periods but were let down by faulty finishing, especially from the usually reliable Milton Christopher.

"We had the game to win today but we did not capitalise on our chances," said a disappointed Alexander Morgan, the coach of the Spaldings team.

In the opening minutes of the game, Spaldings looked the more composed of the two teams and created some good, early opportunities. Jovann Powell fired wide from close range in the seventh minute, Jason Henry drove a close range rebound over the cross bar in the ninth and in the 17th minute, Christopher from wide from inside the 18-yard box.

Stroke of good fortune

With time running out in the first half , St James took the lead with a stroke of good fortune in the 45th minute. A long range free-kick by Barrett bounced in front of the goalkeeper, brushed his hands and ended up in the goal.

In the 69th minute, Ottey got the easiest of chances to double St James' lead when he got away before the goal but miskicked. The ball fell kindly for Barrett but he too miskicked.

With a minute to go in the game, Ottey made up for his earlier miss when he won possession just inside the penalty area, dribbled several paces before unleashing a powerful grounder, which crashed into the back of the net, making the final score 2-0.