Kevin Sherman, 52, faced a player nearly 40 years his junior in Leo Fatailofu, but mixed up his rallies to make the youngster move all over the court, winning 3-1.
But the barn burner had to be the clash of the No 1 players, as Wanganui's Hamza Ali dropped the first two sets but climbed off the canvas to beat teenager Joshua Hobbs 3-2 after a gruelling 65 minutes.
It came down to a thrilling 16-14 win in the final set in front of a packed grandstand, with Ali being mobbed by supporters coming onto court at the finish and leaping into the stands to hug his parents.
"People, as you can imagine, were going off," said Roestenburg.
"That brought the house down."
Wade Coneybeer was unsuccessful against Luka Zubic, losing 3-0, but schoolboy James McKenzie wrapped it up with a 3-0 win over Sharn Ashford.
The Ohakune women had been No 2 seeds for the tournament but proved they could handle the occasion when they upended No 1 seeds Eastern in the final.
After qualifying top of their group, Ohakune climbed that final mountain to win their small club's first ever national title.
"They have been very dedicated to training for the last 11 weeks," said manager Marianne Thrupp, whose husband Brian is the coach.
She said the team had a lot of help and support from Joseph Watts, while the team had plenty of voices on the sideline from friends and family travelling to Saturday's final.
It made for a big celebration at the club on Saturday evening as Roestenburg said 200 people stayed on and partied away until the small hours.
He said a lot of praise needed to go to organiser Alan Simpson because this year's E-grade nationals, with the added entrances and outfits worn by the teams, put the 2012 edition to shame.
But everyone was feeling it on Sunday morning.
"I met the guys at the Celtic. They ordered something to eat and none of them could eat it," said Roestenburg of his team.
