Recently the Year 7 and Year 8 NX Boys Football teams gained top places at their respective North Harbour Tournaments.
The Y7 boys’ team went from strength to strength in their pool games and it was awesome to see the growing confidence from all the players. As they consistently worked as a team they gained the results, coming top in their pool. In the quarter final match they played fantastic attacking footy, making it into the semis against Belmont Intermediate. The boys demonstrated real determination in the semi and valued ball possession while finishing scoring opportunities, winning the game 2-0. It was to be a Northcross v Rosmini final, which as expected was an on the edge of your seat match. Both teams fought hard and both teams found the net in regulation time, 1 all on the whistle and having to face a penalty shoot to decide the overall winner. Our penalty takers stepped up to the challenge and slotted their penalties giving Northcross the win 4-3.
Our Y7 team can be very proud of their top result – North Harbour Champions for 2024.
Our Y8 team showed an outstanding combination of attacking football, innovative team work and rock hard defense throughout the tournament. They went into the semi-finals having scored over 20 goals in pool play and not one conceded. The team battled hard in the semi-final against Northcote and were unlucky not to score in the 20 minute game time and so headed to penalties with the fulltime score at nil all. It wasn’t to be our day, with penalties 3-2 to the opposition. The boys rallied well and showed real character and resilience to dominate the match for 3rd and 4th against MBIS, maintaining constant pressure and possession. The winning goal came when Declan connected a great cross, striking the ball past the keeper and into goal giving the NX team the 1 nil lead and the eventual win – our Y8 boys 3rd in North Harbour.
We were fortunate to be able to have a second Y8 team (NX White) compete in the NH tournament. One thing is certain Northcross has a depth of skilled football players who love the game and are proud to represent the school. NX White started the day very strong with a 4 nil win over their first rivals in pool play and went on to finish second in their pool making it into a quarter final match. Unfortunately their opposition was the NX Blue team, an epic mate on mate battle. The game was played in really good spirit with both teams fighting hard for a win. NX White made some tactical changes in order to counteract some of the NX Blue Teams known strengths and for a while were able to hold off any threats. The NX Blue team did step it up in this game and probably played some of their best footy of the day taking out the game.
It was impressive to see the sportsmanship and comradery of both teams post match. NX White went on to gain a 7th place overall, a commendable result.
All our NX Football Tournament players can be very proud of their efforts, attitudes and commitment. Amazing NX ambassadors!
Murray Toohill
Football Manager
