THE Raymond Terrace Roosters are celebrating a grand final win after the under-14 boys side defeated Aberdeen to take out the division two Hunter Valley Combined Competition.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Roosters’ win against Aberdeen came after a heartbreaking qualifying final loss, 20-14, to the same side on August 13.
Raymond Terrace had to defeat Cessnock last weekend to fight their way into Saturday’s grand final.
Once they achieved their goal, they found that Aberdeen had been awarded the home game for the grand final.
Despite many submissions to the Hunter Valley Combined Competition and Country Rugby League NSW the Roosters’ requests for a change of venue was denied and the Raymond Terrace team made the two hour trip to McKinnon Oval, Aberdeen, on Saturday.
The boys started the game on the wrong foot, with Aberdeen breaking away to a 16-0 lead by half time.
The Roosters came back from the break firing on all cylinders.
With less than one minute to go, and still down by 16-10, a late try by Ryan Farrell resulted in a goal kick right on the buzzer.
With the conversion successful, the full-time score was locked at 16-16 and the game was forced into extra-time.
The two teams played their hearts out for the first five minutes of extra time, but remained locked at 16-all.
With less than two minutes remaining in the second set, an unfortunate kick on the last tackle by Aberdeen caught team captain, Ethan Rae, in the side of the face, and the ball was ruled not played.
In the next set, a field goal attempt by Lachlan Williams was successful, resulting in the boys taking out an emotional and hard-fought win 17-16.
Try scorers for Raymond Terrace were Williams, Corey Sheals and Ryan Farrell, with Lachlan Williams kicking two from three conversions and the winning field goal.
The Raymond Terrace side finished second to Aberdeen on the competition ladder by only one point, but have overcome lots of obstacles to take out the 2016 grand final.
Congratulations to the team: Breyden Aranas, Jesse Blanch, Ryan Coward, Tyler Eddy, Ryan Farrell, Luke Fisher, Jason Gray, Bray Guyan, Jayden Hancock, Montell Kuru, Jackson Macintyre, Dylan Petith, Cooper Pitt, Ethan Rae (C), Adam Roberts, Jayden Robinson, Corey Sheals, Zane Sorcevski, Bailey Steed, Harrison Stirling, Lachlan Williams plus coach Matt Sheals, manager Kristin Pitt and training staff: Troy Stirling, Tony Rae and Guy Goulding.
