SACS, Northwood and Paarl Gim on song during Founders’ opening day
South African College High School (SACS), their provincial counterparts, Paarl Gimnasium, and KwaZulu-Natal’s Northwood School delivered stellar showings on Saturday at the Founders Hockey Festival.
The annual event, which brings together some of the country’s top sides and others on the rise, is being hosted by Queen’s College in Komani.
The hosts got the ball rolling on Friday with an interesting 2-2 draw against another Eastern Cape outfit, Kingswood College.
On Saturday, the schedule ramped up and delivered some big results as the top guns asserted their dominance.
SACS, led by coach Sam Holmes, was by far the standout team, and they stole the spotlight when they thumped Parktown Boys’ High 9-1 in their opener.
Talisman and captain, Litha Kraai, led their charge against the Johannesburg school, scoring a hat-trick, while Jan Dijkstra netted twice.
The other goals were spread across the field, with Matthew Lassen, Josh Goulding, and newbies Troy Loots and Jake Hufkie also making it onto the scoresheet.
Later, the Cape Town powerhouse overwhelmed St Stithians College 10-2.
Paarl Gim took a page out of the SACS book and also produced dominant outings against the same opposition.
Coach Jacques Grobler‘s side had struggled in the lead-up to the festival, suffering shock defeats at the hands of Worcester Gimnasium and Durbanville in recent weeks.
However, they appeared to have put those setbacks behind them in an impressive 4-2 win over Saints.
Thomas Henn netted a brace for the Paarl side, while further goal contributions from Dian Vorster and Cornell Taljaard sealed the win.
In their second outing of the day, Gim took on Parktown and won 6-2. Jordan White scored a hat-trick, Mikal Janse van Rensburg found the back of the net twice, and Henn was on the scoresheet again.
Coach Justin Collins‘ Northwood side was also on the money, notching back-to-back wins.
In their opener, they brushed aside Somerset College 4-0 before handing Queen’s College a 7-2 beating to finish the day on a high note.
Luc Boyall was in top form and highly effective at penalty corner time.
While Queen’s was well beaten by the Knights, coach Michael Baiden was surely pleased with their 3-2 win over Helpmekaar College earlier in the day.
In other matches, Somerset College defeated Kingswood College 3-0 while Dale College suffered a 2-7 loss at the hands of Helpmekaar.
RESULTS
Saturday, 28 March
Queen’s College 2-2 Kingswood College
Queen’s College 3-2 Helpmekaar
Dale College 0-0 Kingswood College
Northwood 4-0 Somerset College
SACS 9-1 Parktown Boys’ High
Paarl Gimnasium 4-2 St Stithians College
Dale College 2-7 Helpmekaar
Somerset College 3-0 Kingswood College
Queen’s College 2-7 Northwood
Paarl Gimnasium 6-2 Parktown Boys’ High
SACS 10-2 St Stithians College
FIXTURES
Sunday, 29 March
07:30 – Helpmekaar vs Kingswood College
08:50 – Paarl Gimnasium vs Northwood
10:10 – Queen’s College vs Somerset College
11:30 – Dale College vs St Stithians College
12:50 – SACS vs Kingswood
14:10 – Paarl Gimnasium vs Helpmekaar
15:30 – Dale College vs Parktown Boys’ High
16:50 – Somerset College vs St Stithians College
18:10 – SACS vs Northwood
19:30 – Queen’s College vs Parktown Boys’ High
