WHILE MOST think of Campion College as minnows of the ISSA Manning Cup football competition, head coach Newton Sterling believes the school is changing views after securing their third consecutive appearance in the second round.
Campion edged zone rivals José Martí Technical High School in a tightly contested 1-0 win on Saturday to join Kingston College (KC) as the two teams to advance automatically to the next round from Zone C.
The win puts them firmly in second place in the zone with 22 points, and out of reach of third-placed Penwood High on 13.
It is also the third-straight season Campion have advanced past the first-round stage, an impressive feat for a school who had the long-standing reputation of being one of the weaker squads in the competition.
In fact, the last time Campion failed to move past the first round came during the 2019 Manning Cup season when they finished fifth in their zone.
Since then, Campion have won 19 of their 29 first-round games, only losing thrice and recording seven draws along the way.
Sterling said one of the leading factors behind the team’s turn in fortune is the desire to succeed that exists within each player.
“To be honest, I feel like it is just a case where these players want it more,” Sterling explained.
“The players here really want it for themselves and the school. I’m seeing it especially this year in the players, and they have been putting in some serious work in training and it is showing on the field. So, hopefully we can take it a bit further from there.”
Despite their good first-round showings over the last three years, Campion haven’t gone further.
Last year, they were stymied 7-3 on aggregate by KC in the second round, which followed their 2022 3-1 aggregate defeat at the hands of Charlie Smith.
Sterling is hoping they can avoid another second-round exit this year but admits it will not be an easy task, as they are expecting to face sterner opposition as the season progresses.
“We’ve spoken to them and let them know that we have to get past this hurdle. The second round for us actually starts today, so we have to keep moving on forward.
“We have to take it one day at a time because, in the second round, it is about who turns up on the day and wants it more on the day will get it. We’ll prepare them and hopefully they’ll grasp it and we’ll move forward from there.”
The second round of the Manning Cup will see the top 16 teams placed in four groups of four, with the top two teams from each group advancing to the next round.
Campion will close out their final match of Zone C with a tough encounter against KC at Stadium East on Friday before learning their group draw for the second round.
They are currently slated to join Group One of the second round, along with defending Manning Cup champions, Mona.