St Pats go back to back in PKC

It’s been a busy week for school footy across the state as the Paul Kelly Cup and State Cup finals got underway at Blacktown International Sportspark.

The boys competition was held yesterday with St Pats Albury (Southern NSW) becoming back to back state champions as they defeated West Kempsey Public School (Northern NSW) 45 to 14 in the Grand Final played in hot and windy conditions.

It was the first time a school from the Northern NSW region has made the Paul Kelly Cup grand final.

Other results:

Semi finalists: South Coogee Public School (Sydney Harbour) and Henschke Primary School (Southern NSW)

Quarter Finalists: Cherrybrook Public School (Sydney North), Majura Primary School (ACT), St Josephs Leeton (Southern NSW) and Woolooware Public School (Sydney South)

The State Cup finals for High Schools were also held this week and the results were:

U/16s Boys: Mater Dei Wagga (Southern NSW) 105 def. St Pauls Port Macquarie (Northern NSW) 18

U/15s Girls: Hay War Memorial High School (Southern NSW) 35 def. Belmont Christian College (Hunter) 22

Opens Girls: Hunter Sports High School (Hunter) 41 def Finley High School (Southern NSW) 9

U/14s Boys: Xavier High School (Southern NSW)  68 def. Knox Grammar (Sydney North) 19. Xavier High School will now proceed to the Northern States Cup in Brisbane.

Opens Boys: The Scots School Albury (Southern NSW) 98 def. Hunter Sports High School (Hunter) 34

The Paul Kelly Cup state finals for the girls’ competition were held on Tuesday as Finley Public School (Western Riverina district) defeated Lilli Pilli Public School (Sydney South) in the Grand Final.

It was a tight finish with Finley prevailing 19 points to 18. The Finley girls fought back after being down by two goals at half time.

Other results:

Semi Finalists: South Coogee Public School (Sydney Harbour), Holy Spirit (ACT)

Quarter Finalists: St Thomas Aquinas School (GWS), Wallsend South Public School (Hunter), the Assumption School (Central West) and Willoughby Public School (Sydney North)

There were plenty of new schools from various regions tasting success, but ultimately Southern NSW proved to be the dominant region again, taking out six out of the seven trophies on offer.