Players shine

In the final day’s play of the inaugural Johannesburg Hockey League hosted in Beaulieu, both Northside Griffins U18 teams took home bronze.

The U18 Griffins boys beat the Jozi Warriors 13–2 after coming off a narrow loss against the Central Samurais on 7 March.

In the first chukka, three goals were scored. At the four-minute mark there was an assist by Sanele Mchunu to Keanan Wax to give the Griffins a 2–0 lead as field goals counted as two. Shortly after, a penalty corner was awarded to the Warriors but was was saved by Griffins goalie Matthew Pretorius.

Wax bagged his brace 11 minutes in but the Warriors hit back with a converted penalty corner to take the score to 4–1. The second chukka saw more goals from both teams.

Joshua Williams increased Griffins’ lead via a field goal after four minutes and in the last 50 seconds of the chukka Warriors’ Caleb Arries was awarded a penalty stroke and the teams went into the beak with Griffins ahead 6–2.

In the third chukka, a penalty corner was awarded to Griffins and once again Wax shined to bag his hat-trick. There was no stopping Griffins and they added to the scoreboard to make it 9–2. With 10 minutes to go, Griffins’ Tashriek Marcus scored his first and another two quick strikes took the Griffins to 13–2 at the final whistle.

Dianté Gordon of the Griffins was awarded player of the match for his outstanding play in midfield.

Coach of Griffins, Reza Rosenburg said the match went very well with the players coming to the party.

“A few of the guys on the bench said if only they performed in other games like they did today, they would have made that final. But that’s sport, you learn along the way,” Rosenburg told the Fourways Review.

“It was a very good performance from [Gordon]. If other players like Jamie Seale, Keanan [Wax], Tashriek [Marcus] keep coming through the ranks, Southern Gauteng hockey is looking great,” he concluded.

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