Old Boys go back to back for intercity title

Old Boys are Midlands Intercity hockey champions for a second successive season, after a 3-1 victory over Suburbs Piako in Saturday’s finals day in Tauranga.

It was a clinical performance from the defending champs, in a second half where they scored twice and held Suburbs out.

Jury Herewini had opened the scoring for Old Boys, before Josh Pratt levelled for Suburbs to make it 1-1 at halftime. But Kyle Ostenfeld was able to give Old Boys the lead once more, and schoolboy Christopher Ebert then scored inside the final 10 minutes as Old Boys finished strong.

Other great contributions for the victors were from Herewini’s brother, Connor, in the midfield, Te Hirika Chase in the free man defence spot, and schoolboy Tim Nield in central midfield, who did a fine job of containing the dangerous Stuart Pitu.

Pitu was named as the compe- tition’s MVP, with Old Boys’ Ricky Hayward the top goalscorer, with a massive 24 - about double the tally of the next best. Coach Richard Petherick was delighted with his side’s effort in the decider, against a Suburbs side he rated highly. He said the collective effort of his players was key, both on the day and throughout the season.

‘‘We pride ourselves on having a strong team on the field and the bench just runs on when needed, so no-one’s sitting really,’’ he said.

On going back to back, Petherick said it was by no means a perfect campaign, that their goal for future seasons was to start better, but that it was nice to deliver the goods and have some hard work repaid.

‘‘We’re well looked after by sponsors and people that invest a fair bit, so it doesn’t happen overnight, we’ve worked for a few years to get to where we are.’’

Meanwhile, in the women’s competition Thames Valley also made it back crowns, with a 3-2 win over the Katikati Cougars. The teams went to halftime level at 2-2 after Ellie McCleery and Annie McNaughten had scored for the Valley, and Natasha Leong and Anna Hanson had netted for the Cougars, before a McCleery goal in the second half proved the difference.

Fraser Tech finished third in both the men’s and women’s competitions, with the women’s side having Emma Andrews finish as top goalscorer and Kayla Wilson named MVP.