Senior Soccer

Northcote were successful in winning their division and making it through to the regional competition in Senior Girls Soccer. At Regionals, held at Darebin International Sport Centre (DISC) on Monday 31 July, the girls played three matches against Mt Ridley, Viewbank and Wurun College. The girls won their first match 2-0 and drew second and third matches with scores of 2-2 and then nill all, missing out on the final. The students showed great teamwork throughout the day with a mix of seasoned players and a few new to soccer, the girls ran hard and exhibited great skill and athleticism .

~ Anna Carrig

The Senior Boys Soccer also competed at the Regional Finals at DISC. The boys got off to a strong start, beating Sacred Heart Kyneton 3:0 (Alex Mina; Vanya; Darcy). Throughout the game, the defence remained well-structured, and our wingers provided the width needed to pick apart Sacred Heart’s defence.

In our second game, we faced Viewbank (who would eventually advance to the play-off for a spot in the State Finals). Viewbank started strongly, putting two goals past us in the opening minutes of the game. From their, the boys re-grouped and had the play for the remainder of the half. On the cusp of half-time, Vanya scored a masterful free-kick under the Viewbank wall – making it 2:1 at the half. From there, we had all the play but could not get past the Viewbank keeper who saved everything that was thrown at him.

Our final game was against SEDA. With neither team able to progress, the game was played in good spirits, with all skills on display. Following some great link-up play, we were able to put two past SEDA, with Alex Mina and Otto getting on the scoresheet.

Well done to all involved, particularly Darcy Allen – who battled all day in central midfield; Vanya – who was always a threat up top; and everyone who pulled on the Northcote Purple.

~Adam Scanlon

Intermediate Boys Football

One year ago, the 9/10 footy team put up a mighty effort at regionals, with the year 9 heavy side falling in the final match to a stronger, bigger and overall better Viewbank side. This year, it wasn’t going to be the same. A year of burning desire and hunger to make it to state was about to be on full display at McDonnell park. 

The other 3 schools in our pool were Kyneton, Brunswick and the side that eliminated us last year, Viewbank.  The competition kicked off at 10, with Viewbank and Brunswick playing out a thriller, with Brunswick pulling off what we all thought was an upset, off the back of a dominant first half. Our first match was against Kyneton, who had made the hour and a half trip to the inner suburbs of Melbourne to face us. The boys got off to a ripping start, with 4 unanswered first half goals, with the highlight being Duncan’s on the run out of the middle from 50. Gus was taking marks and converting extremely well and the midfield was firing, despite missing one of our prime movers in Charlie, who is off to represent Victoria this week. And how could I forget, our trusty skipper Donno setting the tone with some bone crunching tackles. The second half continued in a similar fashion, with Northcote kicking two goals, and Kyneton jagging a constellation goal with 1 minute left in the contest. The siren sounded, marking Northcote's first win of the day.

Next, the game we had all been waiting for. Viewbank. One year on from the crushing loss for about half of the team, Northcote had a chance to get our revenge. The boys started well, with Gus running into an open goal to put us up in the opening minutes and all of the attack going our way. Viewbank snagged a quick response in the following minutes and Northcote looked somewhat unsettled. Two of our stars in Duncan and Harry K were copping a bit of a tag from the opposition then Viewbank got a goal in the square to take the lead going into half time.  At half time, the scores were 2.1 13 Viewbank to 1.2 8 Northcote. Remember this for later.  

Northcote started the half well with two goals to go up by 7 points followed by Henry W and Gus goals. After taking that lead though, things started to turn in Viewbank favour, with Gus and Leeroy being awarded yellow cards and having to sit out the rest of the game.  Our midfield of Duncan, Finbar and Harry, while brilliant in the first match, had some of their impact negated, but have no fear, as our backline led by Toby, Samuel and Josef standing up massively. Viewbank did however jag a goal on the line and a behind to tie the game with several minutes left.  With about 2-3 minutes left on the clock the ball was on the wing, Harry gave a handball off to Alex, who pumped the ball in long to a contest. The ball spilled to the ground, with Stefan winning himself a holding the man free kick, 30 metres out with relatively no angle.

We had got word from Mr Boyce that the scores were all square, as he had been writing the scores down as the game was being played out, something that wasn’t done by anyone else for some strange reason. After a couple of minutes of lockdown defence, the siren sounded, with Northcote players celebrating what we all thought was a win.  Here’s where it gets interesting. As we were all celebrating, the Viewbank players and coach were confused, as they had thought the game ended in a draw, despite them not even keeping score. After some deliberation with the umpires, the game resulted in a draw.

Anyhow, none of that mattered, win or draw, we still had to go out there and beat Brunswick, and we knew it wouldn’t be easy. We started kicking towards the same end that we had all day, with a blitzing first half, kicking 4 goals to 0 for the second time of the day, including an Errol Gulden-esque goal from the ever reliable Freddy Marmo, as well as a rather contentious goal from Leeroy in the square (it was definitely touched).  At the half time huddle, Mr Boyce had to make sure we weren’t getting complacent. A four goal lead is nothing in football, and Brunswick weren’t gonna go down without a mighty fight.  And boy did they follow through with that, dominating the play in the first half of the term, and were probably unlucky to only gain one goal on us. After a settling goal from Gus following a suspension worthy tackle from an opposition defender, the rest of the match was played out in a defensive and conservative matter, resulting in an in the end comfortable win. The siren sounded with Northcote boys joyous all round. Or maybe not so much as  pointed out by our coach, Mr Boyce. He declared us as we were coming off the ground, “Boys, you don’t look too happy for a team that’s just 1 game away from state”. And to that, we only have one response.  The jobs not finished. Montmorency, watch out.

~Alex Vocisano, Year 10

Year 8 Regional Football

The Year 8 team had a busy day out for their Regional Footy clash. First up the boys played Kyneton and after a hard fought game they came out victorious. Next up the boys played Brunswick and after a difficult first half the boys finished strong in the second half. Our last game was against Greensborough who were just too good and too strong for us however, the boys put up a valiant effort in the a match. A special shout out to the late call up who came to help us out on the day, and also to the boys who switched their camp group to help out their team.

~Riley Boyce

Intermediate Table Tennis

On Wednesday 26 July around a dozen of our students competed at the Darebin divisional Table Tennis competition at the Coburg Table Tennis Club.

The boys team dominated, defeating all the opposing teams and progressing to the region finals in October. Everyone participated well and the day was enjoyed by all.

~Bill Neale

Coming Up:

Aug 2 : Yr 7 and 8 Basketball Selection Tournament

Aug 3 : Senior Regional Hockey

Aug 7 : Yr 9 /10 Division Basketball

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