Courtesy: The Bellingen Shire Courier Sun


BHS cleans up at Zone Futsal Competition again

11 Jun, 2012

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Bellingen High entered both boys and girls teams in the under 14, 16 and Open age groups at the Mid North Coast Futsal competition. The annual competition attracts both State and Private schools from as far away as Maclean in the north and Tamworth in the west, yet despite the depth of opposition, BHS once again proved to be the standout performer of the lot.
The object for the comp is simple … claim either of the top 2 positions in the pool of teams and you will progress to the North Coast Finals. With that in mind, our results were :

Under 14s Girls 2nd : second in the pool
Boys 1st : won the pool and won grand final
Under 16s Girls 1st : won the pool and won grand final
Boys 2nd : won the pool but lost grand final
OpensGirls 1st : won the pool and won grand final
Boys 2nd : won the pool but lost grand final

These are clearly wonderful results which meant that every BHS team is now off to Port Macquarie in August.


The Boys
BHS under 14 boys were undoubtedly the best team in any age group from any school. The team, comprising Captain Andrew Trist, Ezra Malcisi, twins Ben & Asama Radford, Keeper Jonty Neaves, Jordan Newbound, Jake Thorn and Kaizin Clapson-Downey were an absolutely class act. They handsomely won each of their 6 games and averaged over 10 goals per game, amassing an astonishing tally of 63 goals to 8. In attack, Andrew, Ezra and Kaizin were unstoppable while the defence were equally miserable in allowing any team to get anything from the games. Every single player did their bit towards these incredible results and given that they even netted 8 goals in the Grand Final against Bishop Drewitt, it must go down as the most dominant set of displays I have seen. Take note of the names, because on that form, these boys have a lot of futsal ahead of them this year.


The BHS under 16 boys were gutted just prior to the carnival when they lost 2 of their players. It is a big ask to have to survive for 6 games with just the starting 5 and only one reserve, but they did just that with a gutsy set of performances. The epic against Duval (Tamworth) epitomised their fighting spirit, when despite being 2 goals down and under the hammer early on, Captain Michael O’Connor-Rumbel, Justin Alford and Jaya Guy plugged the defence so well that Keeper, Aaron Wolfe, barely had to make a save (though when he did, he was brilliant). That left Aidan Neaves with a lone hand in attack, and boy what a performance! He turned Duval inside out and scored 3 fabulous goals to snatch a fine 4-2 victory for Bello.

That tradesman-like grit characterised all of their displays (other than the 15-2 hiding of Christian Community School), so they thoroughly deserved to top the pool at day’s end. The only blot was the disappointment of a golden goal Grand Final loss against Grafton High but the boys were already through to the next round.


BHS Open boys team are blessed with loads of talent this year. Captain Jake Leslie, Keeper Ollie Boxtell, Tanjil Everett, Tim Davis, Nick O’Mullane and Dean Barlow are all seasoned campaigners, while ‘newies’ Jack Winfer and Louie Balenzano are picking it up quickly. As a result, they swept through the Pool with straight victories averaging 7 goals a game. However, the further the day progressed, it became obvious that our opponents were gradually stepping up to our mark (at least in confidence if not performance). In that regard, it was interesting that before the last pool game, Maclean were huddling around the results board working out that they “only” had to beat us 6-0 to make the Grand Final. Our 8-2 demolition of them certainly put paid to those plans, but the fact that we were over-confidently pushing forward and starting to leak goals on the counter-attack was a developing problem.

Our opponents in the Grand Final, CHEC, exploited this and ran away to a quick 2 goal lead. Although a ‘blinder’ by Jake and a tremendous interpassing teamgoal clawed us back into the game, overconfidence let CHEC strike back almost straight away. Then they hammered in the nail when a brilliantly-taken free kick caught our disorganised ‘wall’ by surprise. There was no coming back a second time and it was disappointing that the Grand Final was our only loss. However, we still achieved our prime aim and qualified for the North Coast Finals and revenge will certainly be sweet in Port Macquarie.


14 years girls

BHS had two teams in this division due to the large number of keen young students. For all except two students this was their first ever game of Futsal. Also only four of the girls in both teams are actually 14 this year. Seven of the girls turn 13 and three of them only turn 12 this year. This means the future is bright and it also shows just how well these girls really did. After the preliminary rounds Bellingen Blue ended in 2nd place and Bellingen Yellow in 3rd place. This however, was somewhat unfortunate as they had to play each other in the semi-final. Bellingen Blue eventually got the better of the game and came out winners 6-2. This put them in the final against BDC who dominated and took out the final 4-1. For the next round the Blue and Yellow teams can combine to make one dominant team.


16 years girls

Again BHS had two teams in this age division one team being a fifteen years team. Both teams performed well with the younger team putting pressure on the older teams and learning so much about the game. The sixteen years team went through the whole day undefeated scoring on their way 23 goals for and only 6 against and winning the championship with Maclean HS runners-up. This group of girls is truly a champion team and impressive to watch.


19 years girls

The 19 years girls did not have everything their own way with some very tough opposition. After the preliminary rounds they finished in second place having lost only one game. This put them up against Maclean HS in the final. This was a great game with Maclean scoring first and leading at half time 2-1. However, the girls didn’t stop and continued to apply pressure scoring four great goals in the second half to come out winners 5-3. Special mention needs to be made of our fantastic goalkeepers who shared the job all day and were outstanding. Shelby MacKenzie and Jenny LaSpada both did an amazing job in goals.

It is difficult to mention other players as there were so many exceptional performances, more than this they were all truly team performances. Great work girls!




Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com