{"id":77493,"date":"2025-07-13T18:41:53","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T16:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=77493"},"modified":"2025-07-13T18:41:53","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T16:41:53","slug":"southerns-hammer-eastern-province-to-lift-u16-boys-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=77493","title":{"rendered":"Southerns hammer Eastern Province to lift u16 boys&#8217; title"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_77497\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-77497\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-77497\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_1841-b-400x267.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-77497\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Southern Gauteng A was dominant at the u16 IPTs, winning each of their seven matches. Photo: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TeamphotoSA\/\"><strong>TeamPhotoSA<\/strong><\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Southern Gauteng A<\/strong> produced an outstanding performance in the final of the <strong>u16 SASHOC National Week <\/strong>at <strong>Hilton College<\/strong>, on Sunday, overwhelming <strong>Eastern Province A<\/strong> 8-1 to lift the title.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think the boys saved their best performance for the final,&#8221;\u00a0<strong>Siya Sityana<\/strong>, the Southerns&#8217; u16 coach, told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SchoolofHockey\/\"><strong>SuperSport Schools Plus<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We were slightly more clinical, and the boys connected well on the pitch.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The victory put an exclamation mark on Southerns&#8217; seven-match unbeaten march to the title.<\/p>\n<p>Sityana\u2019s charges beat their highveld neighbours, <strong>Northern Gauteng A<\/strong>, 6-2, and outclassed their compatriots, <strong>Southern Gauteng B,<\/strong> 5-3 at <strong>St Anne&#8217;s DSG<\/strong>. Playing at <strong>Hilton College<\/strong>, they won 4-2 against <strong>KZN Inland A<\/strong>, saw off Eastern Province 3-1, and triumphed 3-2 over <strong>Western Province A<\/strong>. They also registered a 7-0 drubbing of <strong>KZN Inland B<\/strong> at <strong>St John&#8217;s DSG<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hockey Final - u16 Eastern Province vs u16 Southern Gauteng - Boys SA Schools Hockey - 13 July 2025\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Gn92H0Ztt6M?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Their 8-1 win in the final was the joint-biggest margin of victory at the tournament, matching their big win over Inland B.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We knew that we had a talented group, and that we were good enough to win the tournament, but the most important thing was to play for one another, fight for one another,&#8221; Sityana said.<\/p>\n<p>It is a challenge for sides to not be complacent when they go into a fixture against a team that they previously defeated, but Sityana had a good talk with his charges to ensure that they did not fall into that trap with the title on the line.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Knowing that we had beaten them before gave us confidence,&#8221; he explained, &#8220;but we had to make sure that we execute well, so discipline was important. We had to respect them.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The tournament featured three outstanding forwards. KZN Coastal A&#8217;s <strong>Luc Boyall <\/strong>topped the goal scoring charts, with 12 goals, while Southerns&#8217; leading scorer, <strong>Candy Blaine<\/strong>, tied <strong>Santiago Matroos,<\/strong> from KZN Inland A, with nine each.<\/p>\n<p>Interestingly, the top goal scorer in the girls&#8217; u16 tournament was Luc Boyall&#8217;s sister, <strong>Charley-Rose<\/strong>, who netted nine times,<\/p>\n<p>Blaine led the Southerns&#8217; scoring in the final, striking twice, including the opener in the fifth minute.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Candy is a fearless striker. He has a good eye for goal. Most would say he is a maverick. He is a predator. He has a good instinct inside the circle,&#8221; Sityana shared.<\/p>\n<p>Eastern Province was still trying to conjure up a response when <strong>Kamohelo Tsoka<\/strong> doubled the Southerns\u2019 lead in the 12th minute, which left the boys from the highveld 2-0 ahead at the end of the first chukka<\/p>\n<p><strong>Coach Keanon Geldenhuys&#8217;s<\/strong> Eastern Province side produced a better showing in the second chukka, but Southerns bolstered their advantage when <strong>Kade Lottering<\/strong> struck from a tight angle in the 28th minute.<\/p>\n<p>In the sixth minute of the third chukka, <strong>Matthew Jung<\/strong>, slotted his seventh goal of the tournament to make it 4-0.<\/p>\n<p>Almost immediately, Eastern Province replied when <strong>James Chree <\/strong>converted a penalty stroke. That setback served only to spur Southerns on.<\/p>\n<p>They promptly added two more goals. <strong>Jason Joiner<\/strong> found the back of the net in the 44th minute, and Blaine scored his second a minute later.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We agreed that we would make it hard for every team that comes up against us,&#8221; Sityana said.<\/p>\n<p>The double-strike made a comeback all but impossible for Eastern Province. They trailed by five goals and that was turned into a seven-goal deficit by <strong>Tshimologo Mogale<\/strong> and <strong>Rourque van Rooyen<\/strong>, who hammered the final nails into their opponent&#8217;s coffin with further goals in the fourth chukka.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Results<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Final: Southern Gauteng A: 8<\/strong> &#8211; Candy Blaine (2), Jason Joiner, Kade Lottering, Tshimologo Mogale, Kamohelo Tsoka, Rourque van Rooyen. <strong>Eastern Province A: 1<\/strong> &#8211; James Chree.<br \/>\n<strong>3rd and 4th: Boland A: 3<\/strong> &#8211; Jeandre van Zyl, Caleb Cilliers, Luke van der Merwe. <strong>Western Province A: 1<\/strong> &#8211; Ross Wille.<br \/>\n<strong>5th and 6th: KZN Coastal A: 4<\/strong> &#8211; Matt Potgieter, Luc Boyall, Ryan Herselman.<strong> KZN Inland A: 1<\/strong> &#8211; Benjamin Wilson.<br \/>\n<strong>7th and 8th: Northern Gauteng A: 3<\/strong> &#8211; Michael Meiring (2), Will Hewitt. <strong>Southern Free State A: 3<\/strong> &#8211; Eben Stander, Yandisa Litole, Ethan Seager.<br \/>\n<strong>9th and 10th: Southern Gauteng B: 4<\/strong> &#8211; Tristan McQue (2), Mpilo Chabe, Mahlatse Maapola. <strong>Western Province B: 3<\/strong> &#8211; Fourie Max (2), Divan van Eeden.<br \/>\n<strong>11th and 12th: KZN Inland B: 2<\/strong> &#8211; Luthando Shelembe, Daniel Pieterse. <strong>KZN Coastal B: 1<\/strong> &#8211; Ryan Willis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Southern Gauteng A produced an outstanding performance in the final of the u16 SASHOC National Week at Hilton College, on Sunday, overwhelming Eastern Province A 8-1 to lift the title. &#8220;I think the boys saved their best performance for the final,&#8221;\u00a0Siya Sityana, the Southerns&#8217; u16 coach, told SuperSport Schools Plus. &#8220;We were slightly more clinical, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":77497,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77493","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/77497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}