In a thrilling display of secondary school football, Clarendon College emerged victorious in the ISSA Ben Francis Cup final on Saturday, securing a hard-fought 2-1 triumph against Cornwall College at the National Stadium. The match culminated in dramatic fashion with substitute Nicholy Forbes delivering the decisive goal in the 73rd minute, breaking a tense deadlock that had persisted for most of the second half.
The championship showdown began with an early offensive surge as Clarendon’s Nayar Anderson, later honored as the match’s Most Valuable Player, opened the scoring in the 10th minute. Anderson executed a spectacular solo effort, maneuvering down the left flank before placing a precise low shot into the far corner of the net.
Cornwall College demonstrated remarkable resilience, equalizing merely five minutes later through Mekhi Foster’s powerful strike from just inside the 18-yard box. Both teams subsequently engaged in an intense back-and-forth battle, creating numerous scoring opportunities that neither side could capitalize on until Forbes’ late intervention.
The winning moment arrived when Forbes, introduced as a second-half substitute, expertly redirected a corner kick into the far right corner of the goal. This strategic victory marked Clarendon College’s fifth Ben Francis Cup title, adding to their previous triumphs in 1989, 1990, 1998, and 2017, while simultaneously preventing Cornwall College from achieving a record-extending eighth championship hold.