Exeter School wins U16 hockey finals
Exeter School is proud to announce its Under 16 Boys’ Indoor Hockey team has defended its National Indoor Hockey title.
The squad of nine, Luke Crocker (captain), Matt Marsh, Chris Richardson, Paddy Poustie, Tom Edgington, George Hoult, Ed Starling, Jamie Telford and Josh Hanna, won the prestigious title for the second year running.
The Finals took place last weekend at Whitgift School, Croydon. The boys were in a group of five schools with the top two teams to progress through to the Semi Finals. Exeter School got off to the best of starts beating the hosts, Whitgift, two nil, before beating Queen Elizabeth Grammar School.
The final game on Friday 10 January saw a tense match against a strong Trent College team. With only a minute and a half left on the clock, Exeter was trailing 2 – 3 but showing their true grit and determination, the team found two goals to win the game 4 – 3. The best of these, and indeed, the best team goal was from George Hoult, finishing a well worked move on the far post. This qualified them for the Semi Finals the next day despite having one group game left to play.
On Saturday morning, Exeter drew against Newport Free Grammar School in their final group game, with strong performances from Josh Hanna, Jamie Telford and Ed Starling stepping up to help Exeter progress to the top of the group to face Ipswich in the Semi Final.
The Semi Final saw the boys play their best hockey with a dominant performance. Paddy Poustie was magnificent in goal pulling off some outstanding saves. Matt Marsh and Chris Richardson were composed and impenetrable in defence. In attack, Luke Crocker and Tom Edgington consistently beat defenders to get through on goal and the team made their way to the Final with a 5 – 1 victory.
The Final was against Bromsgrove on Saturday evening and saw both teams evenly matched from the start with opportunities at both ends. The deadlock was broken by Exeter in the first half but Bromsgrove didn’t take too long to draw level on the scoreboard early in the second half. The second half was extremely tense until a strong tackle from Luke Crocker stole possession and he was able to drive into the D and slip the ball to Tom Edgington to score and take the lead again. With less than ten seconds on the clock, Bromsgrove was awarded a short corner which was to be the final play of the game. From the drag flick, Paddy Poustie made a solid save that left the ball in front of the goal and Tom Edgington was the first to react to clear the ball as the final whistle sounded.
Director of Sport, Mr Andy Mason, said: “The weekend was an extreme emotional rollercoaster and the boys showed real grit and true professionalism in focussing on every game. Huge credit should go to both Mr Skinner and Mr Jones, our dedicated and passionate coaches, who are enormously proud of the boys’ achievements.”
Exeter School was the only day school to have three out of four teams in the National Finals. The U16 Girls and U18 Boys were both in their respective finals in Bromsgrove and Croydon displaying fantastic hockey but not managing to move onto the Semi Final stages.
