Champion of Champions

Oztag 

After winning the Southwest Sydney Regional Gala Day undefeated sixteen year 8 students earned their place to compete at the State Champions of Champions Oztag Carnival. The boys were filled with excitement and anticipation as they had put in the hard work training for the weeks leading up to the carnival. We departed for Marco Reserve, Panania hoping to continue to make Cecil Hills High School sporting history.

When we arrived we warmed up ready for our first game against St Edmunds College from Canberra. A quick team photo and talk and we were into action. The game was fast paced with both teams having many opportunities to win the game. There were some very valiant efforts in defence on our own line and some very good second phase play which lead to us levelling the score close to full time. Unfortunately we conceded a try close to the end of the match and lost 4-3 in our opening match.

We regrouped for our second match which was to be against Model Farms High School. After the first round defeat, the boys were keen to turn it around. We struck early with some great decoy running and passing. The boys then struck again just before halftime to make it 2-0. Model Farms hit back after halftime and had some really good opportunities where we were caught short but again the Cecil spirit ensued and we held them on our line for three sets in a row. We managed to score right before full time and confidence was restored.

Our next game was to be the toughest of the pool matches against Tuggerah Lakes Secondary. As expected the game was very fast paced and the boys from the Central Coast were very skilful with the ball. We fought hard and had some very good defensive efforts but went down 4-2.

Our last pool game was against the team we lost to in the first round (as our pool only had 4 teams) and we struck early to go one nil up. The boys held off a late charge after a see-sawing battle and won 3-2.

The quarter finals were announced and funnily enough we ended up drawing St Edmunds College instead of Tuggerah Lakes Secondary College or a team from the other pool. The boys warmed up well and the team huddle was very positive and the boys were fired up. We struck early with three quick tries after some excellent passing and support play. They scored on halftime to make it 2-1 at halftime. The second half started a little slower after a few penalties and mistakes. They made us pay and pulled ahead with two very good tries off some set plays. The boys never gave up and scored a brilliant run away try with 3 minutes to go to level the score. Unfortunately they scored right on the siren after we held them out for three sets in a row and we went down 4-3 in the quarters.

Thank you to Justin, Ashton, Nikolas, Brendan, Max, Marios, Riley, Cayden, Wayland, Muhammad, Jason, Billy, Massimo, Sajed, Tristan and Aleksandar for showing such great commitment, sportsmanship and never giving up. As a coach I was extremely proud of the boys' efforts, athleticism and efforts. We will hopefully be back bigger and better next year.

Special mention also to our Captain Nikolas Hagarty who made the NSW Merit team which was a team selected by NSW Oztag and the opposing coaches on the day where the 16 best players were picked from 11 teams.

J Dunn, Oztag Co-ordinator