2023’s top two, Stutterheim and Dale College, off to winning starts
The defending champions of the East London High Schools Soccer League, Stutterheim, are off to a promising start as they begin a quest to defend the title they won for the first time in 2023.
In an exciting finish to last season, Stutterheim’s captain, Nanga Hodi, scored a screamer on the final day of the league competition in a 1-0 win over Dale College to ensure his team came away with the title.
On Saturday, Stutterheim began their title defence with a 2-0 victory over Hudson Park, with both goals coming from Libhongo Singiswa, to ensure they claimed three points in their first game of the season.
Speaking to SuperSport Schools Plus, Stutterheim coach Mila Abraham said: “It’s not easy being a defending champion because all the teams will be watching you and preparing well against you, and we saw that with the first game.
“Our first game against Hudson was an example of how difficult the season will be for us. We struggled to beat them because they know our boys from last year, so they prepared themselves very well before the game.
“Hudson took the game to us and they were well prepared, like we were. Both of our goals came in the last 15 minutes of the second half.”
Moving forward, Abraham said he has made it clear to his team that they should not underestimate any side and they should treat every contest as if it is a final.
Dale College had an up-and-down 2023. They entered several competitions in which they competed against the best teams in the country, such as THS Louis Botha, Brebner, and Maritzburg College. Early in their campaign, at the Wildeklawer Soccer Tournament in Kimberley, they went winless. where they unfortunately lost all of their matches.
However, they took their lumps, learnt their lessons and went back to the drawing board. By the time the 2023 season concluded, Dale College had appeared in several finals. They had also finished as the runners-up in the East London High Schools Soccer League.
In their first outing of 2024, on Saturday, they outlasted the Centre of Excellence in a tough battle, winning 3-2, with goals from Zuko Magaloza, Sibabalo Nogwina and Yamkela Latha seeing the College boys claim all three points on offer.
In another first-round encounter, Baysville High School and George Randell shared a 2-2 draw, with Anda Nyumba and Ellen Calvary scoring for Baysville and Mofoka Ezra and Matinise Abonge replying for George Randell.
Log Standing: Round 1
| U19 Block B | Played | Win | Draw | Loss | GD | Points |
| Stutterheim HS | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Dale College | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Baysville HS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| George Randell HS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Selborne College | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Catchcart HS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Merrifield HS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Westbank HS | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Centre of Excellence | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| Hudson Park | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | -2 | 0 |
Fixtures; 13/03/2024, Round 2
Hudson Park vs Westbank High School
Center of Excellence vs Selborne College
14/03/2024
Merrifield High School vs Stutterheim High School
Baysville High School vs Dale College
George Randell vs Cathcart High School
15/03/2024: Round 3
Westbank vs Center of Excellence
Hudson Park vs Merrifield
Selborne College vs Baysville
Stutterheim vs George Randall
18/03/2024
Dale College vs Cathcart
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