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FOOTBALL
CAMPION College came from 2-0 down to force their cup final against Gisborne Boys’ High School (3) to penalties.
Campion won the shoot-out 4-3 to take the Emerre & Hathaway Cup at Harry Barker Reserve last Saturday.
Boys’ High went 1-0 up 10 minutes into the second spell, when left-winger Daniel Watts cut in on goal and let fly with a shot that was blocked. Watts persevered, latched on to the rebound and forced the ball into the net from close in.
Five minutes later, Boys’ High were two up. Central midfielder Toby Sutherland got the vital last touch to the ball in a goalmouth scramble following a cross from the right.
Campion soon countered. In the 65th minute, right-winger Blake Marshall received the ball and cut in towards goal.
He unleashed a right-foot rocket into the far corner of the goal, on the angle from 12 metres.
Goalkeeper Ethan Bruce — playing his first game in years and having a stormer — got his fingertips to the ball but could not stop it.
In the 80th minute, a Campion shot from outside the penalty area was blocked, and left-winger Josh Purll followed up and sidefooted it home from close range.
Both teams had chances to grab a late winner. Campion shots brought two outstanding saves from Bruce, while Campion’s Orlando Pedraza had to look sharp to keep out the late Boys’ High raids.
In the shoot-out, the cat-like Pedraza made two saves, one of which was a diving stop down to his right.
Purll kept the shoot-out from going to sudden death, blasting his penalty — Campion’s fifth — into the top right corner to secure the win.
Campion’s best performances in a good team effort came from skipper and centreback Jacque Moroney, who was rock-like at the back; left-winger Purll, always a threat; and Pedraza, who — after having last season in outfield positions — is this year back in goal, where he represented Gisborne at age-group level.
Their coach is 19-year-old former Campion student and first-teamer Patrick Murphy. He was in the army until he had to take time out for knee reconstruction in February for a football injury. He is working at a petrol station in Gisborne and looks forward to a return to the army when he is fit enough.
Boys’ High (3) coach Peter Ray said it was the best game his team had played this season, and Campion had done well to fight back.
He made special mention of central midfielder Rongo Paenga, right-winger Henry Waehling, left-winger Watts, and three strikers who rotated up front throughout the game and “played their hearts out” — Neo Stuart, Robin Broadstock and Seth McKay.
Boys’ High had three members of the Sutherland family on the field — goalscorer Toby, elder brother and centreback Claude, and father and centreback Steve.
All three were outstanding, coach Ray said.
Steve Sutherland’s father Peter, a former Gisborne City and Thistle Central League striker, was on the sideline watching the game with wife Jan. He was told that for the Sutherlands to equal the record of four family members in one Boys’ High team (Peter Ray and sons David, Tyrel and Daniel in the seconds nine years before), he would have to nip home for his boots. He declined.
It’s back to league football tomorrow, and Boys’ High (3) play Lytton High School (2) on the Rectory ground.
Campion have the bye.