Camden Haven through to final

Camden Haven High School has won its way through to the State Final of the Under 15 NSW AFL Knockout.

At Blackbutt Park, Wauchope, on Tuesday, Camden Haven High held on to beat Hills Sports High School from western-Sydney by 2 points in the CHS run competition.

The siren sounded as the Sydney school was about to launch another attacking raid but the locals held on in the 7.7 (49) to 7.5 (47) thriller.

Details of the final are still to be confirmed but it is believed it will take the format of a two-day carnival featuring the top-two Riverina teams and the top two Knockout teams of which Camden Haven is one.

Early planning also suggests that the final will be played at either Narrandera or Sydney, in a fortnight’s time.

Coach Darren Mearrick said he was very nervous going into the game against the well-credentialled Sydney team.

“I spoke to their coaching staff in the lead-up to the event and you don’t have to be Einstein to work out that Hills Sports High has a lot of athletic talent and a bulging trophy room,” Mr Mearrick said.

“They also have a 15-hour a fortnight AFL program at the school but they have a lot of trouble getting teams to play them as their reputation and talent earns them a lot of forfeits.

“However, our boys put all the reputations aside and went out and produced a mighty effort that takes AFL at High School level in this region to levels it has never gone to before.”

Hills were late to arrive and after an abbreviated warm-up the Camden Haven High team got the jump on them.

Andrew Stokes and Ryan Beaumont were the rocks that the victory was built on in defence and they were well assisted by James Coskerie, Ari Vanderant and Bayd Latham across the half-back flank.

As centremen Conor Haswell, Luke O’Neill and Tyson Wiegold started to get into the game off the aggressive and skilful ruckwork from Garrett Baker, the Havens had built a solid 28-9 lead at half time.

Brice Hayward, Peter Prendergast and Hayden Clarke were working into the game in the third quarter but some errant kicking had the game in the balance at three-quarter-time with the Havens up 41-28.

And Hills Sports High produced a telling quarter of effort in the final stanza but with Josh Windsor, Trent Finch and Darby Bennett starting to work into the game, the Havens held on.

The game was brilliantly controlled by umpire Scott Abercrombie who demanded disciplined and clean football despite the slippery conditions and worked with the players to preserve the safety of them in a ferocious contest.

Gresham Hodges was outstanding for the Havens before coming off with a leg injury while Lachy Hayman also showed class for someone so new to the sport of Australian Rules.

BEST PLAYERS (Camden Haven High School): G Hodges, C Haswell, A Stokes, R Beaumont, G Baker, T Finch.