Our Captain of Football, Thomas Burt, provides an overview of the 1st XI's successful season

Like every start to the 1st XI season, this year began with early morning fitness and technical sessions.
The early start to the season and consistent hard work was definitely a determining factor for our success later on into the season.

Our first preseason test was the Referees Cup in which we saw some challenges with two frustrating draws against Cambridge and St Johns.
This resulted in us not getting out of the group and was a realisation that our standards had to be extremely high for us to achieve success this season.
Our first major test came in week 3 of term 2 in which we faced Tauranga Boys away from home.
This challenge was too much for us at this point in the season and we were overwhelmed in the first 25 minutes going down 4-0.
However throughout the entirety of the game we showed glimpses of the team we could be and managed to finish the game 4-1.

Over the rest of term two we continued to develop as a team and had a number of good performances.
This resulted in us finishing off the term with no losses, except for the underwhelming trip over the Kaimai’s.
Our only two draws came against St Paul’s and Auckland Grammar which were both cagey encounters.

This run of performances gave us momentum going into the Super 8 tournament which was supposed to be in Week 10 of Term 2.
However due to bad weather in Gisborne, the tournament was postponed by 4 weeks which was somewhat beneficial for the team as this meant we had extra time to prepare and grow as a team.
Over the Term 3 break we had a number of early morning fitness sessions in which we were able to bond as a team.
This was definitely an important reason for our ability to dig deep at the end of tough games. We headed down to Gisborne in week 2 of term 3 and had our first chance at a major piece of silverware.
The first day of the tournament included two convincing 3-0 wins against Gisborne and Rotorua.
This put us on 6 points and meant we were through to the top 4.
We then faced Palmerston North on the second day and drew 1 all after conceding a late equaliser.
These results put us top of the group and matched us against New Plymouth in the semi-final.
New Plymouth were a tough team to face as they were extremely passionate and well drilled. However after going 1-0 down, the boys were able to dig deep and pull off a 2-1 comeback. This put us through to the final against Tauranga Boys.
In terrible conditions we fought hard and created numerous chances.
At full time the score was locked at 0-0. However, late in extra time the deadlock was broken by Tauranga with a great long range strike.
Unfortunately we were not able to come back and lost 1-0.
This tournament gave us motivation to perform at a high standard and even though we didn’t come away with the Super 8 shield we realised that if we performed our best we had the ability to challenge any of the top teams in New Zealand.

After Super 8 we had 5 weeks before the most important part of the season, the New Zealand Secondary Schools tournament down in Christchurch.
Over this 5 week period we had two 4-0 wins against St Peters, a 7-0 win over St. John’s and another 1-1 draw with St Paul’s.

These results secured us the Waikato Secondary Schools league trophy and put us in the Knockout Cup final versus St Paul’s, which would take place after nationals.
Onto nationals, our goal was to get out of our group.
The first day saw a 2-0 win over Whangarei boys and a narrow 2-1 defeat to St Kentigerns who would go on to get 3rd overall in the tournament.
This meant we had to get a result on Tuesday morning.
This came as a comfortable 2-0 win over Timaru Boys.
Second in the group put us into the round of 16 where we faced St Patrick’s Silverstream who are the current champions of Wellington.
We produced arguably our best performance of the season and generated a comprehensive 2-0 win.
However, the dream of achieving great success did not come into fruition as we were defeated 2-0 by Mount Albert Grammar in the quarter finals.
After this disappointment we were no longer in contention for the trophy.
This was not the situation we wanted to be in but, we still had a job to do.
The resolve and determination from the team was evident in our next game against our rivals St Paul’s.
We bounced back and won 2-0 to set up a final game against our other rivals Tauranga Boys. This was for 5th in the country and the boys rose to the occasion producing a 1-0 victory over the team which we had struggled against earlier on in the season.

Our final game of the season was the Knockout Cup final and we claimed another trophy with a 3-0 win over St Paul’s and also secured the challenge shield which we had held for the majority of the season.
This game was a showcase of the team we had become.
The success we saw throughout the season is evidence of the idea that success is not given to you, success is earned.

The 1st XI football team has had a tremendous season due to our determination and willingness to learn and grow as a team.
A large part of this success has to be attributed to all the effort put in by Mr Scott and Mr Foy. Massive thanks has to be given to these coaches and the team has the utmost respect and appreciation for you both.
You have developed a culture which I’m sure will live on for years to come and I’m sure this would lead to much success for the team. 

Thomas Burt
Captain of Football