B.B. Coke justifies 20-0 win
REIGNING ISSA Ben Francis Cup champions B.B. Coke High School have been criticised for their 20-0 win over newcomers Mount St Joseph High School in their opening ISSA DaCosta Cup match on Saturday.
However, head coach Kemar Ricketts said there was not much he could have done differently as his boys were prepared and excited to play the game on its merit.
B.B. Coke scored with just 19 seconds on the clock, and from there, the game resulted in 10 goals in each half. The scorers were Danyea Whitely (four), Maliek Chang (four), Sanjay Allen (three) Dashan Bartley (two), Tyrell Ashman (two), Tahjay Larmond (two) Nicoy Witter, Darell Keane, and Devonte Blake.
“I didn’t do much. The players had the ruthless mentality,” Ricketts said. “We didn’t hear much about Mount St Joseph in the preseason, so we didn’t know what to expect.
“I started getting criticism from the moment the game finished. How does one tell the players not to score any more and to just pass around the ball? I had players out there that were hungry for that moment of playing football. I made seven changes, put on some youngsters, but you know they are motivated. It’s not the first, Winston Jones [High School] would have gotten 21-0 from Manchester some years ago.”
Ricketts said that their ruthlessness in front of goal was influenced by the other teams in what is considered by many to be the “group of death” in that they will also play Mount St Joseph and could also win by high margins, which would be a consideration if goal difference comes into play at the end of matches in the round.
“We are in a zone with STETHS (St Elizabeth Technical High School), Munro, Lacovia, and Maggotty, so we must have the mentality to play football because these teams will play them also,” he said. “I believe in the five Ps — ‘Proper preparation prevents poor performance’.
“People are saying, ‘But what if down the line we need one goal to qualify?’
“There is a target on our backs anyway. We are coming off a 2019 season where we would have won something. It’s a good team, and we are looking to create more history going forward.”
B.B. Coke will take on many-time champions STETHS in Santa Cruz on Wednesday in what is expected to be their toughest game of the group.