{"id":80834,"date":"2025-08-18T06:37:52","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T04:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=80834"},"modified":"2025-08-18T06:37:52","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T04:37:52","slug":"hilton-college-hoists-primo-big-10-trophy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=80834","title":{"rendered":"Hilton College hoists Primo Big 10 trophy"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_80836\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-80836\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-80836\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/football-hilton-northwood-ozcan-170825-1-400x267.jpg\" alt=\"Hilton College striker Efe Ozcan races towards the crowd to celebrate scoring the opening goal in the final of the Primo Big 10. Photo: Brad Morgan.\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-80836\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hilton College striker Efe Ozcan races towards the crowd to celebrate scoring the opening goal in the final of the Primo Big 10. Photo: Brad Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Hilton College<\/strong> made the most of hosting the <strong>Primo Big 10<\/strong> &#8211; the annual football tournament featuring KwaZulu-Natal&#8217;s top 10 all boys&#8217; schools &#8211; by lifting the prestigious trophy for the first time on <strong>Zungu Field<\/strong>, on Sunday. It was a victory they fully deserved.<\/p>\n<p>After their 2-0 win in the final over <strong>Northwood<\/strong>, they&#8217;ll join <strong>Michaelhouse<\/strong>, <strong>Maritzburg College<\/strong>, and <strong>Glenwood<\/strong> in having their name engraved on the trophy.<\/p>\n<p>A strong work rate, coupled with a sharp attacking edge, took Hilton to three wins on Sunday &#8211; in the quarterfinals, semi-finals, and final &#8211; much to the joy of a large crowd of home supporters.<\/p>\n<p>Along the way, in their three playoff games, they scored seven goals while conceding only two.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Their day of delight began routinely enough with a 2-0 win over <strong>Kearsney College<\/strong>. Their semi-final, against <strong>Westville Boys&#8217; High<\/strong>, who had ousted the <a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/glenwood-are-double-champions-after-primo-big-10-win\/\"><strong>defending champion, Glenwood<\/strong><\/a>, in the quarterfinals after a penalty shootout, was anything but.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Football Final - Northwood vs Hilton College - Primo Big 10 - 17 August 2025\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NnjaDr5sZwQ?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><!--StartFragment --><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">End-to-end, it raised the adrenaline on and off the field, drawing the crowd into the contest. Hilton&#8217;s supporters sang loudly and proudly when their team went 3-1 up before a late goal from Westville ensured a thrilling finish. It ended 3-2 and with that the <a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/westville-boys-lifts-kznhsfa-coastal-a-league-title\/\"><strong>Mancosa KZN Coastal A-League champion<\/strong> <\/a>was eliminated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Hilton, then, faced Northwood for the silverware.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>The Knights<\/strong> <\/em>impressed throughout the tournament. Well organised, hard-working, and tough as teak, they were made to grind out two wins on Sunday to reach the title decider.<\/p>\n<p>Their metamorphosis, from a team in trouble in the second term&#8217;s KZN Coastal A-League, to a cohesive, dangerous unit has been hugely impressive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">In the quarterfinals, Northwood met the <a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/maritzburg-college-crowned-kzn-inland-a-league-champion\/\"><strong>KZN Inland A-League champion, Maritzburg College<\/strong><\/a>, with whom they had drawn 1-1 in pool play on Saturday. There was little give in either defence. This time, they shared a goalless draw, which sent the match to a penalty shootout.<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_80838\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-80838\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-80838 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/football-northwood-maritzburg-primo-170825-400x204.jpg\" alt=\"After seeing their first penalty kick saved, the Northwood Knights kept their cool and converted every other spot kick to oust Maritzburg College in the quarterfinals. Photo: Brad Morgan.\" width=\"400\" height=\"204\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-80838\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">After seeing their first penalty kick saved, the Northwood Knights kept their cool and converted every other spot kick to oust Maritzburg College in the quarterfinals. Photo: Brad Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">When College captain <strong>CJ <\/strong><\/span><strong><span class=\"cf0\">Sukraj<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"cf0\"> pulled off a save of Northwood&#8217;s very first spot kick, the <em><strong>Red, Black, and White<\/strong> <\/em>appeared to be on their way to the semi-finals, but the Knights kept their cool, battled their way back, and eventually won in sudden death, taking a 7-6 victory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">In the semi-finals, they took on Michaelhouse, a team that had found the back of the net regularly, led by the tournament&#8217;s top goal scorer, <strong>Asande Nkosi<\/strong>, who struck six times in total. &#8216;House had downed DHS 3-0 in the quarterfinals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>There was little to separate the sides, but the Knights, with typical grit, found the goal that mattered to book their place in the title game.<\/p>\n<p>Their forwards, as they did throughout the event, impressed with their defensive work, putting huge pressure on the opposition&#8217;s defenders and making exiting from the back a challenge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">With the title on the line, a fantastic, highly motivated team effort spurred Hilton to victory in the final, with striker <\/span><strong><span class=\"cf0\">Efe<\/span> <span class=\"cf0\">Ozcan<\/span><\/strong><span class=\"cf0\"> stealing the spotlight.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, the anniversary of the passing of his father, he had been desperate to pay tribute to his dad by scoring. He did, from the penalty spot, in a 1-1 draw with DHS. In the title decider, he continued to do his late father proud.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_80837\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-80837\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-80837\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/football-hilton-northwood-ozcan-170825-400x245.jpg\" alt=\"Efe Ozcan sends the ball towards the back of the net to give Hilton College the lead over orthwood in the final of the Primo Big 10. Photo: Brad Morgan.\" width=\"400\" height=\"245\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-80837\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Efe Ozcan sends the ball towards the back of the net to give Hilton College the lead over Northwood in the final of the Primo Big 10. Photo: Brad Morgan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">The first goal was all about Ozcan&#8217;s hustle. Closing down the Northwood defence, he turned over possession deep in the opposition&#8217;s territory before racing into the box <\/span><span class=\"cf0\">where he fired off the opening goal.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Wheeling away, he charged towards the large gathering of Hilton supporters to join them in an enthusiastic celebration.<\/p>\n<p>Then, in the second half, Ozcan pretty much sealed the deal by emphatically converting a penalty to make it 2-0.\u00a0<span class=\"cf0\">From there, Hilton managed Northwood&#8217;s attacking efforts well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Their midfielders put in massive shifts to close down the Knights, while the home side also continued to threaten, especially down the flanks, where they showed off plenty of pace and skill.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\">With the silverware secured, Efe Ozcan was a popular choice for <strong>Man of the Match<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">In the playoff for ninth, <strong>Clifton College<\/strong> fell behind against <strong>St Charles<\/strong>, who ripped them apart with a spectacular defence-splitting long ball, which totally exposed the Clifton &#8216;keeper.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Clifton, though, looked like different team to the outfit that had struggled on day one, and they deservedly equalised off a rebound to earn a share of the spoils.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><strong><span class=\"cf0\">RESULTS<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><strong><span class=\"cf0\">Quarterfinals<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Hilton 2-0 Kearsney<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Northwood (7) 0-0 (6) Maritzburg College<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Michaelhouse 3-0 DHS<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Glenwood (1) 0-0 (3) Westville<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><strong><span class=\"cf0\">9th\/10th<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Clifton 1-1 St Charles<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><strong><span class=\"cf0\">Semi-finals<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Hilton 3-2 Westville<br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"cf0\">Northwood 1-0 Michaelhouse<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><strong><span class=\"cf0\">Final<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"pf0\"><span class=\"cf0\">Hilton 2-0 Northwood<\/span><\/p>\n<p><!--EndFragment --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hilton College made the most of hosting the Primo Big 10 &#8211; the annual football tournament featuring KwaZulu-Natal&#8217;s top 10 all boys&#8217; schools &#8211; by lifting the prestigious trophy for the first time on Zungu Field, on Sunday. It was a victory they fully deserved. After their 2-0 win in the final over Northwood, they&#8217;ll [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":80836,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80834","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\/80834","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\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80834\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/80836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}