Northern Academy charges into Absa Wildeklawer quarterfinals
Saturday, the second day of the Absa Wildeklawer Soccer Tournament, delivered excitement and goals, with Northern Academy and Grey College asserting themselves as strong title contenders.
Northern Academy owns a perfect record of four wins from four matches, scoring eight times while conceding only one goal.
On Saturday, they began with a 2-0 victory over Brebner in the morning. Later, in their final group match, they faced Norkem Park High in a rematch of last year’s Curro Halala Cup final. Northern Academy won that match on penalties, but they won more emphatically on this occasion, recording a 4-1 win, which secured them a place in Sunday’s quarterfinals.
The quarterfinals’ line-up will be completed on Sunday, with several key matches set to decide the top eight teams.
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Among those in with a shot at the quarterfinals is the host team, Kimberley Boys’ High, who finished Saturday in second place in Group A, with four points. Victoria Park trailed the local school on goal difference only. When they met on Saturday, the sides shared a 2-2 draw. Later in the day, Kimberley Boys’ High edged out Brebner 1-0, while Vic Park suffered a 0-2 loss to Northern Academy.
Norkem Park also beat Brebner by a tight 2-1 margin, which left the Bloemfontein school with three successive defeats.
The defending champions, Virginia High, with seven points from three games, topped Pool B after Saturday’s action. Last year’s runner-up, the Wildeklawer Academy, though, also has seven points. They beat Springs Boys’ High School 2-0, but were beaten 1-0 by Virginia High. The Wildeklawer Academy bounced back, though, with a 1-0 victory over Queen’s College.
In a highly anticipated match between the 2025 and 2024 champions, Virginia High and Clapham High, played to a 1-1 draw in an exciting clash. Clapham had few problems with Springs Boys’ High, cruising to a 4-0 win.
Springs picked up their only win thus far when they faced Queen’s College. They won 1-0 to keep the Komani school winless.
In Group C, Navalsig leads with 10 points from three victories and one draw. That draw came against their Bloemfontein rivals, HTS Louis Botha, on Saturday. with the contest finishing 1-1. In their other matches, Navalsig outplayed Paul Roos Gimnasium 3-0 and Jeppe High School for Boys 2-0.
Jeppe reversed their fortunes with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Northwood, while Paul Roos also defeated the Knights by the same score. Paul Roos shocked HTS Louis Botha, winning by a goal to nil.
In Group D, Maritzburg College, surprisingly, lost their first three matches. After suffering a big 1-6 loss to Reddam House Bedfordview in their opener on Friday, the Red, Black, and White fell 0-3 to Grey College and 0-1 to Vaal High.
Grey College added a 3-0 win over Emmang Mmogo to improve their record to three wins on the trot. Emmang Mmogo got by Vaal High 1-0 and edged out Reddam House Bedfordview 3-2.
RESULTS
Group A
Northern Academy 2-0 Brebner
Kimberley Boys’ High 2-2 Victoria Park
Norkem Park 2-1 Brebner
Northern Academy 2-0 Victoria Park
Kimberley Boys’ High 1-0 Brebner
Northern Academy 4-1 Norkem
Group B
Wildeklawer Academy 1-0 SBHS
Virginia High 1-1 Clapham High
SBHS 1-0 Queen’s College
Virginia High 1-0 Wildeklawer Academy
Clapham 4-0 SBHS
Wildeklawer Academy 1-0 Queen’s College
Group C
Jeppe 1-0 Northwood
Navalsig 3-0 Paul Roos
Navaslig 2-0 Jeppe
Paul Roos 1-0 HTS Louis Botha
Paul Roos 1-0 Northwood
HTS Louis Botha 1-1 Navalsig
Group D
Grey College 3-0 Maritzburg College
Emmang Mmogo 1-0 Vaal High
Vaal High 1-0 Maritzburg College
Emmang Mmogo 3-2 Reddam House Bedfordview
Grey College 3-0 Emmang Mmogo
Reddam House Bedfordview 1-1 Vaal High
