Over the weekend Northwood travelled up to JHB to play against Jeppe Boys’ High.
The thin air at that altitude makes a remarkable difference. The ball travels faster and bounces higher. And the lungs start to burn sooner.
8 of our boys making up Northwood’s 1st and 2nd teams, made the trip up to Jeppe. The boys were in high spirits when we arrived, even after having been in the bus for 7 and a half hours.
The games began and all was looking well. Ryan Parkin had a hockey match to play later in the evening so he was up first. He was 2 nil up and fatigue started to catch up with him. His opponent made a come back. In the 4th game however, Ryan got it together again and won his match 3 games to 1. Dylan McIlroy and Jason Kent both had similar experiences, each winning their matches 3 games to 1. James McIlwraith had a fairly easy match and beat his opponent 3 games to 0.
Nathan Hill and Luke Bricknell both had some really tough competition and lost their matches 3 nil. Nick Wright played against a more senior opponent and gave him a run for his money, but it was not enough and he lost 1 game to 3. Ethan Klebe came out fast and furiously. He was 2 games up when his opponent woke up. The 3rd game was neck-and-neck; 11 all, 13 all, and so it went. His opponent managed to win the game 20 points to 18. The next two games were just as nail biting as the 3rd. Unfortunately the home side had the advantage with the thin air and Ethan went down 2 games to 3.
The final outcome of the fixture: A draw of 15 games each.
The Jeppe boys and the Northwood boys really enjoyed the fixture. We can’t wait to take them on again next year on our own turf.
