Derby delight for SACS and Bishops

South African College High School (SACS) and Bishops Diocesan College claimed wins on the final weekend of the schoolboy hockey season in the southern suburbs to conclude their campaigns on a winning note.
SACS, as they have done the whole season, dialled up the intensity and recorded an emphatic 5-0 win over Wynberg Boys’ High at the Brewery Astroturf.
Meanwhile, Bishops were made to work hard for their 3-2 win over Rondebosch Boys’ High away from home.
The four southern suburbs teams have had contrasting campaigns, with SACS claiming victory against their three rivals during the season.
In the first installment of the southern suburbs’ derbies, coach Sam Holmes’ team took home a 3-0 win against Rondebosch before edging out Wynberg 1-0 in their final term two matches.
In the second half of the season, SACS turned up the tempo and ran rampant against ‘Bosch, scoring freely in their second meeting to record an emphatic 8-2 win before beating Bishops 3-0 earlier this month at the Woodlands Astroturf.
It has been another incredible season for SACS. They’ve finished it unbeaten at home and retained the Western Province u18 Premier League title. It was important to conclude it with a victory, to ensure the gloss remained on their achievements, especially facing Wynberg at home, and with both teams bidding farewell to their grade 12 players.
After a nervy start, with the visitors applying early pressure, SACS opened the scoring against the run of play when Litha Kraai intercepted the ball near the halfway line and dribbled almost 20 metres before entering the circle. He then rounded goalkeeper Zack Raizenberg to slot the ball into the back of the net for a 1-0 lead after the first chukka.
The home side doubled their advantage in the second quarter through a Regan Wille goal, before Kraai made it 3-0 with a penalty stroke after he was fouled inside the circle by Raizenberg.
In the third chukka, Kraai completed his hattrick by converting another penalty stroke, and Connor van der Schyff added a further goal to make it 5-0 and put a bow on another supremely impressive season for the side from Newlands.

Elsewhere in Rondebosch, Bishops Diocesan College, after a rather disappointing second half of the season, was intent on ending the season on a high away from home.
In the third term, Bishops had suffered a 1-2 loss to Paul Roos, gone down 0-3 against SACS, 1-3 against Wynberg, and 1-2 to Paarl Gimnasium. After a blazing start to the season, they had gone off the boil.
The game against ‘Bosch, though, wasn’t only an opportunity to bounce back against their fierce rivals, it also presented coach Ryan Julius’s side with an opportunity to complete a double in the Bish-Bosch clash.
Bishops did it. Despite being made to dig deep in the latter stages of the game, they held on for a 3-2 win.
Their goals were scored by Thomas Malan, Joshua Mettler, and James Grieve.