Saints march to prestigious Aitken Cup title

There was drama and a whole lot of suspense in the final of this year’s Aitken Cup.

St Stithians College dethroned Jeppe High School for Boys as champions of this prestigious and historic hockey tournament after it went to a shoot-out. The scores was locked at 2-all at full-time.

Saints won the shootout by 4-2 to end Jeppe’s dominance of the Aitken Cup since 2015. Jeppe was looking to bag their seventh successive title.

It was only the second time in St Stithians College’s history that they managed be crowned champions of the competition. Their first title came back in the 1980’s.

This defeat was Jeppe’s first of the season.

Jeppe’s captain, Jaydon Brooker opened the score board in the tenth minute, scoring from a penalty corner, putting his side in the lead and bolstering confidence in the team in this crucial final. Brooker put another one by the Saints in the 20th minute, this time, from a penalty shot.

However, the Saints were not discouraged as they replied with a half-time score of 2-1 to Jeppe – Connor Sneddon scoring for the Saints in the 26th minute. The comeback was now right-on-schedule as captain Taine Tanner-Ellis saved his team by scoring from a penalty corner in the 44th minute. 

These two sides met in last year’s final as well with Jeppe walking away with the spoils. The Aitken Cup celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. Trevor Aitken who the competition was named after was there to hand over the trophy to Saints.

Scorers: 

St Stithians College 2 (Connor Sneddon 26″, Taine Tanner-Ellis 44″); Jeppe High School for Boys 2 (Jaydon Brooker 10″, 20″). St Stithians College won 4-2 after shootout.