{"id":78176,"date":"2025-07-26T16:22:05","date_gmt":"2025-07-26T14:22:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=78176"},"modified":"2025-07-26T16:22:05","modified_gmt":"2025-07-26T14:22:05","slug":"eastern-cape-big-guns-make-a-winning-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=78176","title":{"rendered":"Eastern Cape big guns make a winning return"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Selborne
Selborne College came from behind to beat Hudson Park 2-1 in East London on Friday. Photo: Shot by Shani Photography<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After a long break, the first weekend of term three is not an easy one to predict in the world of schoolboy hockey.<\/p>\n

Besides players who haven’t played a match during the holiday period, there are also those that have been in action at inter-provincial weeks, some of whom are in need of a rest. Marrying the two factions together is no easy task.<\/p>\n

That, often, leads to a period of adjustment and a dip in standards on the opening weekend. However, that wasn’t the case in the Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n

Some of the province’s big guns returned to action on Friday with a bang, scoring goals for fun and picking up from where they left off to gain further momentum with only a month left in the season.<\/p>\n

There were fixtures in East London, Komani, Makhanda and George that gripped the imagination of hockey enthusiasts in the Border and Eastern Province region.<\/p>\n

The match of the day in East London saw Hudson Park High <\/strong>host Selborne College<\/strong> at the Buco AstroTurf<\/strong>, in Bunkers Hill.<\/p>\n

Past fixtures between the sides have been dominated by Selborne, but Hudson had other ideas and they almost pulled off an upset.<\/p>\n

They dominated the first half, enjoyed most of the ball possession, and created plenty of circle entries.<\/p>\n

Then, Hudson, under the guidance of coach Sipe Matafeni<\/strong>, opened the scoring just before halftime through skipper Helio Ruiters <\/a><\/strong>after some great linking play with his teammates.<\/p>\n

The second half belonged to Selborne, however. They came out firing after coach KJ Friend<\/strong>‘s halftime talk. They were\u00a0more aggressive, more assured on the ball, and that led to clear-cut goalscoring opportunities.<\/p>\n

Trailing by one heading into the final chukka, Selborne rustled up an equaliser with six minutes to play before taking the lead a couple of minutes later.<\/p>\n

Their goal scorers were Saneze\u00a0Kweba<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Inathi\u00a0Gxobole<\/strong>, two players who have consistently found the back of the net this season.<\/p>\n

Hudson Park had a chance to snatch a draw late in the game when they were awarded a short corner, but the boys in black and white weathered that storm and held on for the win.<\/p>\n

In another derby in the city, Stirling High <\/strong>shared an exciting 3-3 draw with Dale College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Josh Williams<\/strong>, Keagan Rowe<\/strong>, and Matthew Wiseman<\/strong> were on the scoresheet for Stirling, while Naledi Mosebi<\/strong> and skipper Sibongisile Nzima<\/strong> (2) netted for Dale.<\/p>\n

\"Pearson
Pearson High School was among the big winners on the weekend. Photo: Brogle Photography<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In Komani, Queen’s College<\/strong> ran rampant against Merrifield College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Coach Michael Baiden’<\/strong>s side cruised to a 7-0 win over the visitors to sound a warning to their future opponents.<\/p>\n

It was a masterclass led by Brett Hoffman<\/strong>, who slotted a hat-trick.\u00a0Asi Vena<\/strong>, Aya Maduma<\/strong>, Liso Mtalaliso<\/strong>, and Morgan Hayes<\/strong> also scored to complete the drubbing.<\/p>\n

Pearson High <\/strong>also picked up a win, beating Graeme College<\/strong> 2-0 in Makhanda.<\/p>\n

Coach Karl Lavender’<\/strong>s boys were clinical and used their chances well, with captain Keagan Moore<\/strong> striking twice from penalty corners.<\/p>\n

Grey High School <\/strong>made a longer trek, visiting George, to face York High<\/strong>. Heading into the clash after a big 7-1 win over the touring UK side, Magdalen College<\/strong>, during the week, coach Andrew Beynon’s troops were confident.<\/p>\n

York put up a brave fight, but coach Jason Slater<\/strong>‘s boys were outgunned, and Grey claimed a 5-1 win.<\/p>\n

Dante Elkington<\/strong> netted a hat-trick to show why he was included in the South African u16 squad, while Ben Atkinson<\/strong> and Logan Goddard-Ford<\/strong> took the visitors’ tally to five. Joshua Dom<\/strong> replied for York.<\/p>\n

On Saturday morning, Merrifield College played to a goalless draw against Cambridge High.<\/p>\n

Results and scorers<\/strong><\/p>\n

Selborne College 2<\/strong>: Saneze Kweba, Inathi Gxobole. Hudson Park 1<\/strong>: Helio Ruiters<\/p>\n

Pearson High 2<\/strong>: Keagan Moore. Graeme College 0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Stirling High 3<\/strong>: Josh Williams, Keagan Rowe, Matthew Wiseman. Dale College 3<\/strong>: Sibongisile Nzima (2), Naledi Mosebi.<\/p>\n

Queen’s College 7:<\/strong> Brett Hoffman (3), Asi Vena, Aya Maduma, Liso Mtalaliso, Morgan Hayes. Merrifield College 0<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Grey High School 5<\/strong>: Dante Elkington (3), Ben Atkinson, Logan Goddard-Ford. York High School 1<\/strong>: Joshua Dom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After a long break, the first weekend of term three is not an easy one to predict in the world of schoolboy hockey. Besides players who haven’t played a match during the holiday period, there are also those that have been in action at inter-provincial weeks, some of whom are in need of a rest. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":78179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78176","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\/78176","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\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78176\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/78179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}