Boishaai and SACS primed for tricky semifinals at CTIHT
Just two years ago, Paarl Boys’ High took on South African College High School (SACS) in the final of the Cape Town International Hockey Tournament.
In that fixture, SACS reigned supreme at the Hartleyvale A Stadium, beating their opponents 4-1 to retain the title they had won two years in a row.
A year later, in 2024, SACS was dethroned and beaten by Paarl Gimnasium in the final, while Paarl Boys’ High, affectionately known as Boishaai, finished in 11th place.
A lot has changed in the past 12 months, however, and both sides have a chance of playing themselves into the final after booking their semi-final places on Thursday, day two of the tournament in the Mother City.
SACS will take on Hoërskool Outeniqua in the first semi at Hartleyvale A before Boishaai tackles Reddam House Constantia at the Hartleyvale B AstroTurf at 19:45.
Road to the last four
The journey to the semifinals was smooth for SACS and Boishaai, who dominated their respective Pools on the opening day.
Then, on Thursday, SACS added a 3-0 win over Windhoek Afrikaanse Private School and a 4-0 defeat of the UK’s Reed’s School.
Daniel Graser, Litha Kraai, and Josh Goulding were on the scoresheet against Windhoek. Kraai, as usual, was at it again in the win over Reed’s, netting a brace, while Graser scored once more, and Troy Loots made it four.
For Boys’ High, it was business as usual in their final pool match against Windhoek High School, with Laubscher van Loggerenberg, Alex Lategan, and Mijan Herholdt scoring in a 3-0 victory.
They were made to sweat in their cross-pool playoff against St George’s Weybridge, another of the sizeable UK contingent competing in the CTIHT.
The match ended 1-1, which sent the contest to a penalty shootout. Paarl Boys’ High held their nerve and came away with a 3-1 win.
Outeniqua and Reddam House Constantia also had to work hard to make it through to the final four.
After a disappointing showing in the group stage, Outeniqua stunned Durbanville 1-0 in their cross-pool playoff game to set up a date with SACS.
Wehan Meyer was the hero for the boys from George after finding the back of the net and putting in a man-of-the-match performance.
Reddam, like Boys’ High, took the road less travelled after they played to a 2-2 draw with Parel Vallei High School (PV) in their cross-pool clash.
Skipper Joe Gitlin and Max Godden netted for Reddam, while Sashin Pillay and Luca Jordan scored for PV.
It was tight in the penalty shootout, but Reddam edged it 3-2 to progress to the semi-finals.
The Evolve section semifinals will be contested by Curro Durbanville and Windhoek’s St Paul’s College before the favourite, Bridge House, takes on HTS Drostdy.
After Friday’s matches, the players will have a rest day on Saturday and return on Sunday for the final day.
RESULTS
Pool A
SACS 3-1 Windhoek Afrikaanse Private School
St George’s Weybridge 2-1 Somerset College
Pool
Paarl Boys’ High 3-0 Windhoek High
Reed’s School 2-0 Worcester Gimnasium
Pool C
Durbanville 6-0 Kingston Grammar
Parel Vallei 4-0 Millfield School
Pool D
Outeniqua 2-1 King Edward’s School
Reddam House Constantia 4-1 WP Invitational
Cross-Pool playoffs
Worcester Gimnasium 2-1 Somerset College
Outeniqua 1-0 Durbanville
Reddam Constantia (3) 2-2 (2) Parel Vallei
SACS 4-0 Reed’s School
Paarl Boys’ High (3) 1-1 (1) St George’s Weybridge
Windhoek Afrikaanse 2-1 Windhoek High
Millfield School 4-0 WP Invitational
King Edward’s School (3) 1-1 (2) Kingston Grammar
Click HERE for the day three fixtures.
