Zwartkop cruises, Jeppe edges out Pretoria Boys
The boys’ schools’ hockey season hit its stride in Gauteng on the weekend with a slate of tasty clashes, beginning on Friday with Hoërskool Zwartkop welcoming Hoërskool Klerksdorp to Pretoria for their first meeting since 2018.
It might have been a warm welcome off the pitch, but on the ‘turf Zwartkop was ruthless, blasting 13 goals into the back of the net, with six players – Roche Oberholzer, Emile Roussouw, Gareth Jooste, Handre Coetzee, Douw Nel, and Divan Coertze – sharing them
Jeppe High School for Boys, who won 4-2 at St Benedict’s College earlier in the week, took on Pretoria Boys High on Saturday on the Boden Astro.
The game got off to a cautious start, with both sides’ defences keeping their opposition at bay. The hosts were the first to find their rhythm in the second half, but Boys High continued to keep them out.
Jeppe Boys’ coach Siya Sityana lauded the Pretoria Boys High’s effort. “It was a good contest between two schools that are pretty much the same, with the same traditions,” he said. “Pretoria was a very organised team, and it was difficult to break them down.”
In the last chukka, Jeppe’s pressure was rewarded. When they won a penalty corner three minutes from time, Juan Martin made it count, scoring the contest’s only goal.
“In the second half, we started getting more outcomes. We started to create beautiful attacks,” Sityana said.
Looking back on the first half, he commented: “It was like a chess battle between two well-organised teams.
“We then dominated most of the proceedings,” he added. “Our defense was good. We won four short corners. Otherwise, both teams were sound at the back.”
Like Jeppe, St John’s College also played a midweek game and another on Saturday. On Wednesday evening, they ran out comfortable 5-1 winners over Cornwall Hill College. Then, on Saturday, they took on King Edward VII School (KES) at home. In a seven-goal thriller, KES snatched a 4-3 win.
It was a back-and-forth clash with the lead changing hands four times before the Red Sticks found the winner in the fourth chukka after the schools had entered it level-pegging at 3-3.
Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) recorded a 3-0 win over Helpmekaar Kollege in Pretoria on Saturday.
Affies appeared to have broken a goalless deadlock in the last seconds of the first chukka, but the umpire ruled out the goal.
In the second chukka, though, they hit the front. Helpies gave Affies a tough time of it, but the home side added further goals in the third and fourth chukkas to seal the victory.
RESULTS
Zwartkop 13-0 Klerksdorp
Jeppe 1-0 Pretoria Boys High School
St Benedict’s 2-4 Jeppe
Affies 3-0 Helpmekaar
St John’s College 5-1 Cornwell Hill
KES 4-3 St John’s College
