Highlands teams performed very well at the Branch Championships held in Nowra last weekend.

The Highlands FC 13’s 14’s and 15’s were all Branch Champions and the other boys and our girls 14’s teams performed creditably over the two days of competition.

Highlights of the weekend including the perfect weather were;

Jordan Will from the U14 Girls team was awarded the Ray Tweedie medal for the best and fairest player in her age group.

And the Following Highlands players were selected for the Southern Branch teams to compete in the State and Country Titles teams in July

U13 Boys: Lachlan Crook, Brenden Mozak, Josh Nickl, Harry Sutherland, Ikani Vaitohi, Daniel Callaghan (shadow). Under 14 Boys: Josh Day.

The Highlands had 6 teams participating in the various age groups and a summary of the performance of each team is as follows;

The Under 11 Boys had 1 win, 3 draws, and their only loss was to Champions Eurobodalla. Coach Sean Garner and Manager Wes Stewart were pleased with pleased with the effort of the young boys who will all learn and develop from the experience. This team had a good day on Sunday defeating Tablelands 3-1 and drawing with Runners Up, Far South Coast.

The Under 12 Boys had a win and two very close losses. Late goals cost the team in both matches on Saturday but they managed to put it all together with a convincing win 3-0 over Tablelands on Sunday. Coach Denis Day has worked hard with this team and commented how much they had improved since this event last year. Hopefully most of the boys will continue to work hard on their game and look to progress to the Highlands FC 13’s next season.

The Highlands FC 13’s team won both their matches on Saturday and virtually sewed up the title prior to their final match. They would have had to lose by a large margin to lose the Championship title and were a bit flat in a 3-1 loss to Eorobodalla. Their efforts on Saturday though with two good wins against Shoalhaven and Far South Coast ensured they went home with the winners medals. They now progress to represent Southern Branch at The Country titles in Merimbula on the June long weekend.

The Highlands FC 14’s were probably the most convincing winners over the weekend, winning all of their matches and not conceding a goal. They started of with a bang with a 5-0 win against Tablelands and followed up with a hard fought 1-0 win against Far South Coast. Sundays 4-0 victory over Shoalhaven rounded of a great weekend and there were plenty of smiles from players, parents and the coaching staff.

The 14’s now progress along with the 15’s to represent Southern Branch in Bathurst at the Country titles and both sides will be hoping for more success.

The Under 14 Girls had a victory over Eurobodalla a draw against Far South Coast and were just pipped by Shoalhaven in their final match. The girls performed really well considering for some players that this is their first season of soccer, far less representative soccer.

The whole tournament was well organised by Southern Branch and the officials and Referees involved deserve praise for their efforts and the smooth running of the event.

Likewise Highlands management and coaching staff who have put in many hours of work over the past few months to make sure the Highlands teams were in the best possible shape to do well. The Results with 3 winning sides are proof that the Highlands development program and pathways for our juniors are producing the right results.