Standing left to right:
Ryan Bradfield, Jacques Bleeker, Gareth Simmonds (Captain), Jesse Smit, Dylan Warrior, Cameron Mackay (Head coach), Ramon Rademeyer (assistant Coach)
Front left to right:
Jason Ward, Luke Bowman, Jason Broomhead, Tristan Smith
September 25th saw the KZN Schools Indoor Hockey League U18 final with Westville Boys High School facing fierce rivals Glenwood Boys High. The mouth-watering encounter saw the top two Indoor KZN hockey schools this year going head to head to take the trophy away from 2013 Champions, Northwood.
The encounter started at a furious pace with both teams clearly determined to win the coveted trophy and title. Glenwood took the initiative and opened the scoring with a well taken finish by Glenwood’s James Dellis. Both sides continued to push on and create chances in an even first half until eventually Westville hit back with an equaliser from Westville Captain Gareth Simmonds. Glenwood were guilty of a bit of ill-discipline following the equaliser going down a player in the tight stages of the first half, but Westville failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage bringing the half to a close deadlocked at 1-1.
The second half saw both teams come out firing with both teams trying to take control of the game. As the half wore on, both sides started to create more and more chances but both lacked the vital finish, with both keepers showing their class. After a swift counterattack, Westville finally broke the deadlock grabbing a goal through Jacques Bleeker. This gave the Westville boys the edge and they looked to push for a third to kill the game off. Westville could have done so after winning a stroke following a defensive mistake from Glenwood but they failed to capitalise on this chance with Bleeker shot going wide. This galvanised Glenwood back into shape and they pushed to try and find an equaliser in a now end to end affair. With less than 10 minutes left Westville turned the ball over and counterattacked with a 3 on 2 going forward. The ball was fed to Bleeker once again who made up for his earlier miss from the sport to slot home past Glenwood keeper and Captain Michael Labuschagne. Glenwood came out to push for a result in the final minutes but Westville held strong to record a great 3-1 win to become the 2014 KZN Schools U18 Indoor Champions.