Butler confident Rusea’s will win Former champions tackle Little London in 2026 daCosta Cup opener

Eleven-time champions Rusea’s High School will head into their ISSA daCosta Cup season-opener against Little London confident in their preparations, with manager Craig Butler insisting the team has fully grasped the system they will be employing.
He says they have strengthened their squad with new talent as they target a winning start to the competition.
There will be 23 matches during the opening round, with Rusea’s and Little London competing in Zone B, at the Little London playing field, at 3:30 p.m.
“Preparations are going excellently. The players know the systems and know how to play. They have a full understanding of what’s required of them,” said Butler.
“The school and the management team have been behind them 100 per cent, and they are doing very, very well. So I’m very excited.”
He added: “There were players that we lost, but we have some new players who have come in. We have players who have joined from sixth form and overseas as our quota players, so we have quality in the team,” said Butler.
Perform well
He expects Rusea’s to perform well, score some goals, and to begin the competition on a winning note.
“There are really top talents in the team, players who could play on any schoolboy team and on most Premier League teams in Jamaica. So I’m very excited about them and what they bring to the table, and what can happen.
“We have a very strong goalkeeper and a very positive set of wingers who remind me in many ways of Leon Bailey (national player),” added Butler.
Rusea’s, one of the traditional powers in schoolboy football, were eliminated after a heartbreaking 3-1 defeat against Ocho Rios High in last season’s Round of 32.
This season, ISSA has implemented a new format, with schools seeded in the daCosta Cup and Manning Cup league-format competitions for the first time. Unseeded teams will battle it out in the first round, with the top ones moving on to the second round, where the seeded teams will then join the action.
Format change
All teams in the rural daCosta Cup and Corporate Area Manning Cup will be involved in both the Ben Francis KO and Walker Cup KO competitions. This was the format used many, many years ago.
Coming into this match, Rusea’s are seen as favourites to win.
Westmoreland-based Little London, in 2016, won their second-round group to advance to the final 16 and the quarter-finals of the daCosta Cup for the first time in the school’s history.
Prior to that, they were generally seen as a standard regional competitor trying to escape highly competitive western zones. However, under head coach Jeffery Reece, the 2016 season shattered all expectations.
Former kingpins Rusea’s are second only to winning daCosta Cup titles behind Cornwall College, who have 12.
Former stars
The Hanover-based Rusea’s won their first daCosta Cup in 1984, and over the years, they have produced some well-known players, including Aaron Lawrence, Mark ‘Hagler’ Wilson, Stephen ‘Shorty’ Malcolm, Caple Donaldson, Michael Graham, and Donald Hewitt from the golden era of the mid-1980s.
Other stars later produced by Rusea’s include Easton ‘Fuma’ Smith, Deshane Beckford, and Brian ‘Rambo’ Brown.
In 1985, the Lucea-based school created history, as in addition to retaining their daCosta Cup title, they won the Ben Francis Cup, Olivier Shield, and Nutrament Shield.
The ‘Russians’ have also won or shared the Olivier Shield six times, and won the Ben Francis Cup on four occasions.
Rusea’s last won the daCosta Cup title in 2017, when they defeated Clarendon College.
Since then, Rusea’s have failed to advance past the second round.
The alliance between Rusea’s and the Butler-led Phoenix Academy sparked optimism among supporters eager to see the Hanover-based school return to the pinnacle of schoolboy football.
ashley.anguin@gleanerjm.com

Saturday’s Games
Little London vs Rusea’s at Little London
Cedric Titus vs Ferncourt at Cedric Titus
Lacovia vs Munro at Lacovia High
Green Pond vs Irwin at Green Pond High
Morant Bay vs Happy Grove at Morant Bay High
Troy High vs Claude McKay at Troy High
May Day High vs Mile Gully at May Day
deCarteret College vs B.B. Coke at deCarteret
Spot Valley vs Cambridge at Spot Valley High
Muschett vs Herbert Morrison at Muschett
Knockalva Technical vs Green Island at Knockalva
Petersfield vs Hopewell at Petersfield Sports Complex
Grange Hill vs Frome Technical at Grange Hill Community Centre
Walkerswood Academy vs Brown’s Town High
Discovery Bay High vs Marcus Garvey at Port Rhodes Complex
Belair High vs Black River at Brooks Park
Lewisville High vs Mt. St. Joseph Catholic at Lewisville
Cross Keys vs Winston Jones at Cross Keys
Porus vs Bellefield at Porus Community Centre
Foga Road vs Vere Tech at Foga Road
Knox College vs Edwin Allen at Kirkvine Sports Club
Alston High vs Alphansus Davis at Kirkvine Sports Club
Fair Propsect High vs Robert Lightbourne at Fair Prospect
Yallahs High vs Paul Bogle at Yallahs