St Paul’s Collegiate have cracked the dominance of national champions Hamilton Boys' High School to win the Waikato secondary schoolboys' A grade title.
The St Paul’s first XI, coached by Craig Hardman and Matt Rees-Gibbs, backed up their regular season 2-0 Bartholomew Cup and Matt Allen Trophy victory over Hamilton BHS first XI three weeks earlier to win the championship shield with a 1-0 win in Wednesday night’s final at the Gallagher Hockey Centre.
The earlier victory ended a 1 1/2-year reign by Hamilton BHS as holders of the Bartholomew Cup, which is a challenge trophy.
The championship final win for the Forster Shield was the first by St Paul’s since 2003, while Hamilton BHS have held the title since 2010 when both schools went back into the schoolboy competition after breaking away for several years to play senior club hockey instead.
Robert Moreby scored the winning goal for St Paul’s in the second half of the final, while his brother Simon Moreby was the standout player for the victors after making crucial saves in the match in which the winners created the more chances.
Best of the HBHS players was Midlands Under-21 representative Te Hiraka Chase.
The two teams will both head to the top-ranked national secondary schoolboys' tournament – the Rankin Cup – in Auckland at the end of August, while the leading Waikato secondary schools teams in the meantime will now play in the Midlands inter-city schools competition, which pits the top schools from Waikato, Counties Manukau, Thames Valley, Tauranga and Bay of Plenty against each other.
Waikato Diocesan first XI won the senior A girls' championship for the 10th year in a row when they came from 1-0 down to beat Hillcrest High School first XI 3-1 in their final.
