SACS and Paul Roos to reignite rivalry in Hibbert Shield semis
South African College High (SACS) and Paul Roos Gimnasium (PRG) will square off for a place in the Standard Bank Hibbert Shield final after both won their quarterfinals on Friday morning, in Gqeberha.
SACS faced Durban High School (DHS) and overran the KwaZulu-Natal outfit 6-2. PRG, meanwhile, was made to sweat for their 3-2 win on penalties by St Stithians College after their clash had ended deadlocked at 1-1.
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Both sides entered their quarterfinal fixtures with unbeaten records after dominating Pools A and B, respectively.
SACS tallied 16 goals in three matches and conceded only four in wins over St Alban’s College, Grey College, and Pearson, while PRG defeated Maritzburg College, Selborne College, and Clifton College in Pool B.
The first half of the first quarterfinal, between SACS and DHS, was far from convincing from the Cape Town boys, but they showed character, grit, and composure to seal the win.
At halftime, they trailed 1-2 to goals by Tyrique Cloete and Sithsaba Siyoyo, while Aiden Hughes had found the back of the net for SACS.
In the third chukka, SACS came out firing and they drew level when Litha Kraai fired a penalty corner drag flick into the back of the net.
That goal opened the floodgates. Kraai quickly made it a brace before Reece Theunis rocketed in a flick to make it 4-2.
Kraai wasn’t done yet and, with some individual brilliance, he completed his hat-trick before Daniel Graser bagged the final goal in a 6-2 win.
The second quarterfinal, between PRG and Saints, was evenly matched, but the Stellenbosch boys hit the front in the second chukka, courtesy of a strike by Callum van Oudtshoorn.
After that goal, St Stithians had to play catch-up, but they also needed to keep Paul Roos quiet on the scoresheet.
Their efforts brought reward in the fourth quarter when their dangerman Aiden Blatch scored a blinder to level the scores.
It ended 1-1, and, with that, the teams headed to a penalty shootout. PRG’s Ruben Gouws converted the first, and Saints’ skipper, Liam O’Flaherty, followed suit.
Seth Paterson misfired for the Bolanders, but Jason Joiner missed for the Gautengers to keep matters level. The scoreline, then, moved to 2-2 when Logan Lackay deposited his eight-second opportunity into the goal box and Blatch did the same for Saints. That sent the contest into sudden death.
Lackey, again, scored for PRG. Then, Josh Boden rejected Blatch’s goal-scoring attempt, and the Maroon Machine moved on to the semi-finals.
The final four showdown between SACS and PRG, a repeat of the 2024 final, starts at 17:45.
2024 – SACS vs Paul Roos
SACS 2-2 Paul Roos
SACS 6-2 Paul Roos
SACS 3 (1)-(2) 3 Paul Roos
While the first semifinal was confirmed early in the morning, Hoërskool Garsfontein stunned Grey College 2-0 to book their spot in the last four. Paarl Gimnasium joined them after beating Clifton College 3-2.
Their semi-final clash will start at 19:00.
