Eagles Cup to Comet Bay
The Comet Bay College Year 8 to 9 football team has had a stellar end to the season, taking home the Eagles Schoolboys Cup title for the first time.
The Eagles Cup has grown to become WA's premier lower-school football competition with 3925 students from more than 180 schools competing this year.
CBC Australian Football Specialist Program head coach Nic Chidgzey said the boys first defeated their opponents in the Peel metropolitan and country districts before progressing to the quarterfinals.
Chidgzey said the team outclassed South Fremantle District's winning side Christian Brothers College, beating them by 43 points.
He said the boys then soldiered on to defeat Nagle Catholic College by 19 points in the semifinals to gain entrance into the grand final against Trinity College.
The contest was hard fought with eight points the margin in favour of Comet Bay at half-time.
They increased their lead to 20 points at three-quarter time and the game looked almost over.
Team captain Jaike Altieri, 15, said it was a close game with the boys kicking a great goal in the final minute of the game to win 9.4 (58) to 8.4 (52)
"It was a great feeling to hear the final siren because we were 22 points up, but Trinity managed to level with us," he said.
"We managed to kick a really good team goal to take the win."
Jaike said he was proud of the team and grateful to the coaches.
Chidgzey said he was immensely proud of the boys' effort to get over the line.
CBC AFSP program co-ordinator Steve Thomson said the win was a great acknowledgement for the team.
"It is a really hard competition to win and it further acknowledges the quality of the program," Thomson said.
"Wins like this are terrific, but it is also about developing good footballers and, more importantly, good young men."
CBC best-on-ground awards went to Jake Howes, Jackson Perry and Jarvis Pina and the Ross Davis Medal was awarded to Perry.
The Eagles Cup is a West Australian Football Commission initiative supported by the West Coast Eagles Football Club and School Sport WA.
