{"id":95645,"date":"2026-05-16T20:47:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T18:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=95645"},"modified":"2026-05-16T20:47:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T18:47:55","slug":"st-stithians-to-tackle-jeppe-for-aitken-cup-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=95645","title":{"rendered":"St Stithians to tackle Jeppe for Aitken Cup title"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_95661\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-95661\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-95661\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_0636-400x267.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-95661\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">For a second successive year, St Stithians College will meet Jeppe in the Aitken Cup final. Photo:<strong> Michelle Bernhardi<\/strong>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Jeppe High School for Boys<\/strong> and <strong>St Stithians College<\/strong> will meet in the <a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/aitken-cup-heats-up-as-top-guns-book-quarterfinal-spots\/\"><strong>Aitken Cup<\/strong><\/a> final on Sunday. It&#8217;s a repeat of last year&#8217;s title game.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/live.supersportschools.com\/category\/606f65f91eea03755e56797c\/sub-category\/6644b56f60b0fcd934dcd7ad\/\"><strong>Catch the action LIVE on SuperSport Schools<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>They booked their places in the clash for the silverware on Saturday, the third day of the tournament, which is being hosted at <strong>St Stithians<\/strong>, in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n<p>The road to the final was similar for both sides. Jeppe finished atop Pool A after beating <strong>Monument<\/strong>, <strong>Northcliff<\/strong>, and<strong> Trinityhouse Rand Park Ridge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>In the last eight, coach <strong>Gareth Heyns<\/strong>&#8216;s side brushed aside <strong>Parktown Boys&#8217; High<\/strong> 3-0 to book a final four date with <strong>St John&#8217;s College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>St John&#8217;s dominated their pool, too, and cruised to a 4-0 win over <strong>St Benedict&#8217;s College<\/strong> in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n<p>Jeppe dominated the early exchanges of their semifinal showdown, rushing into a 2-0 lead, courtesy of goals by <strong>Kade Lottering<\/strong> and <strong>Jadon Havinga<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>St John\u2019s, despite being forced to play on the back foot, showed fight and grit, and that brought them rewards in the second half.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Motheo Mparutsa<\/strong> found the back of the net, tapping in at the far post, before <strong>Connor Cooper<\/strong> converted a penalty stroke to make it 2-2.<\/p>\n<p>The final chukka was fiercely contested, and both sides created opportunities to grab the lead late on. By the end of regulation time, however, the game was deadlocked. A penalty shootout was needed to decide the winner.<\/p>\n<p>Both outfits missed their first three takes, with the goalkeepers rescuing their teams. It took a strike by <strong>Lottering<\/strong> during sudden death to seal the win for Jeppe.<\/p>\n<p>In the second semifinal, St Stithians College went about their business effectively and beat <strong>St David&#8217;s Marist Inanda<\/strong> 2-1.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Saints<\/strong><\/em>, playing in front of their home supporters, produced a classy performance and survived a late scare to take the win.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Jason Joiner<\/strong>, who has found the back of the net with relative ease throughout the tournament, scored again, and <strong>Didier le Roux<\/strong> struck, too.<\/p>\n<p>By winning, St Stithians has a chance to reverse last year&#8217;s final result, which finished with Jeppe winning 4-2. When the sides met earlier this season, it was goalless through three chukkas, but it ended 2-2 after a frantic final quarter.<\/p>\n<p>In other matches, <strong>Noordheuwel<\/strong> picked up wins against <strong>Randpark High<\/strong> and <strong>HeronBridge College<\/strong>, while <strong>Monument<\/strong> bounced back with wins against <strong>Redhill<\/strong> and <strong>Beaulieu College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Linden<\/strong> defeated Redhill 2-1, while<strong> Northcliff<\/strong> posted a 3-1 win over HeronBridge.<\/p>\n<p>The final day&#8217;s action kicks off bright and early at 07:30 with the final scheduled for 12:30.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quarterfinals\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jeppe 3-0 Parktown<br \/>\nSt John&#8217;s College 4-0 St Benedict&#8217;s College<br \/>\nSt Stithians College 3-0 Helpmekaar<br \/>\nSt David&#8217;s 2-0 Trinityhouse Randpark Ridge<\/p>\n<p><strong>Semifinals\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jeppe (1) 2-2 (0) St John&#8217;s College<br \/>\nSt Stithians College 2-1 St David&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p><strong>Playoffs\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Monument 2-0 Redhill<br \/>\nBeaulieu 1-0 Linden<br \/>\nNoordheuwel 2-0 HeronBridge<br \/>\nRandpark 4-2 Northcliff<br \/>\nLinden 2-1 Redhill<br \/>\nMonument 4-2 Beaulieu<br \/>\nNorthcliff 3-1 HeronBridge<br \/>\nNoordheuwel 5-0 Randpark<\/p>\n<p><strong>FIXTURES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>@Saints Red Astro<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>11:00 &#8211; St John&#8217;s College vs St David&#8217;s\u00a0 &#8211; 3rd\/4th playoff<br \/>\n12:30 &#8211; Jeppe vs St Stithians College &#8211; Final<\/p>\n<p><strong>@Parktown Boys&#8217; High\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>07:30 &#8211; Parktown vs Trinityhouse Randpark Ridge<br \/>\n09:00 &#8211; St Benedict&#8217;s College vs Helpmekaar<br \/>\n10:30 &#8211; Monument vs Noordheuwel<br \/>\n12:00 &#8211; Beaulieu College vs Randpark<br \/>\n13:30 &#8211; Linden vs Northcliff<br \/>\n15:00 &#8211; Redhill vs HeronBridge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jeppe High School for Boys and St Stithians College will meet in the Aitken Cup final on Sunday. It&#8217;s a repeat of last year&#8217;s title game. Catch the action LIVE on SuperSport Schools They booked their places in the clash for the silverware on Saturday, the third day of the tournament, which is being hosted [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":95661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95645","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\/95645","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=95645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/95661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}