The Centenary Heights State High School have taken out their second straight AFL Darling Downs Cup after going through last Thursdays schools carnival at Captain Cook ovals with a perfect 5-0 record.
The previously run Independent and Brisbane Lions Cups were reformatted for the first time this year with all competing schools coming together to the same venue for a round robin style carnival day. In previous years this competition had been run after school time over a 6-8 week block but complications with students and teachers availability forced this event into the carnival style one day competition.
The result was very pleasing with 10 teams nominating for the open division and 7 teams in the U14 division a total of 17 schools for the event. Regional Manager Keith Webb was pleased with the representation from Darling Downs schools.
“While it is unfortunate that we have had to move away from the 6-8 week competition we have had an increase in the number of schools competing by moving to the one day format nominated by the schools. As a result more students are being introduced to the game of AFL and hopefully we will see a few of these students giving AFL a go and at club level “.
In the Open Division Centenary Heights SHS and St Mary’s Catholic College were the only 2 sides to make it through their pool matches undefeated and consequently faced off against each other in the Grand Final game. The opening half of the main game was a close contest with Centenary’s Jackson Savill and Sam Banim linking well to give the Heights a handy 8 point led at the break. St Mary’s captain Stuart Huggins tried hard to pull his side back into the contest in the second half and with Mary’s booting the opening goal it looked as though the final was going to go down to the wire.
But as champion sides do Centenary responded with 2 goals of their own and ran away comfortable 16 point victors 4.6.30 to 2.2.14. St Mary’s ball magnet Stuart Huggins was awarded the MVP trophy for his consistent efforts throughout the day’s games.
From the Open Division games played players were indentified to participate in the Charlie Rose representative game between the Independent Vs State High Schools which will take place in approximately one month’s time. Date and venue TBC.
In the U14 division Concordia dominated the pool phase and were the only undefeated team heading into the Grand Final against Toowoomba Grammar. But as often happens Grammar turned the table on their opponents in the main game with the Aston brothers and Sam Tasker controlling much of the play Grammar were able to record an eight point victory 6.5.41 to 5.3.33.
But it wasn’t all bad news for Concordia with Nathan Cherry being presented with the MVP award for the carnival.
From here Toowoomba Grammar will represent the Darling Downs in the upcoming U14 Northern States Cup were they will face off against schools from SE Queensland, the Gold and Sunshine Coasts to find out who is the U14 AFL Schools State Champion. Best of luck to these players in their pursuit of this prestigious award.
Photo: Centenary Heights team celebrate their second straight DD Cup victory.
Find below all results from the Open Division played
Games Played
9:30am Harristown SHS (7) Vs. Centenary Heights SHS (68)
St Mary's (40) Vs. Toowoomba SHS (28)
OLOSCC (29) Vs. Pittsworth SHS (19)
10:10am Concordia (21) Vs. Toowoomba Grammar (39)
Oakey SHS (6) Vs. St Joseph's (30)
Harristown SHS (19) Vs. Pittsworth SHS (28)
10:50am Centenary Heights (26) Vs. OLOSCC (14)
St Mary's (59) Vs. Oakey SHS (4)
St Joseph's (17) Vs. Toowoomba SHS (31)
11:30am Toowoomba Grammar (27) Vs. Centenary Heights SHS (52)
Concordia (14) Vs. St Mary's (50)
Toowoomba SHS (32) Vs. Pittsworth SHS (23)
12:10pm Harristown SHS (17) Vs. OLOSCC (42)
Concordia (44) Vs. St Joseph's (37)
Toowoomba Grammar (49) Vs. Oakey SHS (12)
12:40pm Pittsworth SHS (15) Vs. Centenary Heights SHS (71)
St Mary's (54) Vs. Toowoomba Grammar (26)
Toowoomba SHS (40) Vs. Harristown SHS (24)
1:10pm St Joseph's Vs. OLOSCC
Oakey SHS Vs. Concordia
1:45pm (GF)
Centenary Heights (30)
Vs.
St Mary’s (14)
Last Modified on 27/05/2013 08:42
