Both Noosa District SHS open boys and girls team found success at the Sunshine Coast Schools Football finals.  After the finals were moved into term 2, due to the washout last couple of weeks in term 1, both teams were in for a massive task of potentially playing three games in one afternoon and evening to become champs.  Both teams started well with the girls defeating Unity College 4 – 0 and the boys defeating Nambour SC 2 – 0 in the quarter finals.  Unfortunately, the girls couldn’t repeat this success and were defeated by Flinders 5 – 1 who are an absolute Sunshine Coast Open girls football heavyweight, but their coach – Mr Zaslavsky was impressed with their efforts in this semi-final.  However, the boys team continued their winning ways by defeating Unity College in a penalty shoot-out.  Our boys were behind by two goals early in the game, but fought back to be 2 all at the final whistle.  The five boys selected for the penalty shoot-out showed immense composure by slotting all 5 penalties to win the shoot-out 5 – 4 in an unbelievably tense atmosphere.

The grand final was going to be tough encounter against St Johns, as this was our boys third game in 4 hours, whereas the opposition has played one less match in this finals evening.  To add to the narrative, the round game was a 1 all draw when they last met in term 1.  Ironically, the rain arrived for the grand final, but this didn’t reduce the quality of football or the supporter’s passion off the field throughout the tight game.  The Noosa boys slotted a goal to lead by one at half time, thanks to the accurate positioning and striking from George E.  In the second half, St Johns certainly tried everything, but the tenacity of the Noosa boys’ defence rose to the fore in an exciting last 10 minutes, with Noosa celebrating a stellar and deserved championship victory as the final whistle sounded. 

The many parents, teacher and friends in attendance were very proud of the efforts from the Noosa District boys, but none more so than their coach Mr Meredith.  The super coach couldn’t award a player of the match as he simply stated, “they all deserved this win after an amazing, undefeated season”. 

Congratulations to both open football teams for making the finals, especially the boy’s team who are now the Sunshine Coast Open Boys Champions.