It has been a successful start to this ESFA season…

This season has been off to a flying start. 3,000 fixtures had already been played over the first weeks of the start of the school year and competitions have progressed quickly onto Round Two and beyond across the Under 12 – Under 18 age groups. 45 National Cup competitions are being run by the ESFA this season including sponsorship for both the Playstation Schools’ Cup and Premier Leaugue Schools’ Cup competitions. There have been several dramatic scorelines and end to end action,   with teams putting in tremendous effort to do all they can to cling onto their spot in these knockout competitions, with the hope they will go all the way to National Finals.

You can find a brief roundup of the action across competitions so far, below – but in the meantime, don’t forget that schools still have until this SATURDAY to enter teams into the U12 Schools’ Cup for Girls’ National Cup competition –  don’t miss out!

Under 12s competition

At the Under 12 Boys’ age group, Madeley Academy claimed local bragging rights as they overcame Hadley Learning Community 9-2 to thanks to hat-tricks from Liam Parkinson and Macara McNulty-Hartnett and a brace from Liam Bowen and a single strike courtesy of Tom Weaver. Ryan Flack grabbed the headlines as he managed to score all six goals for The Howard School (Medway) as they defeated The Malling School (Maidstone), 6-0.

Under 13s competition

At the Under 13 level, defending champions Wright Robinson College (Manchester) have been given a bye into Round 2 and will travel to Parrenthorn High School in Bury. Trentham Academy (Stoke on Trent) sealed their place in Round 2 after defeating Blessed William Howard High School (Stafford), 3-1, thanks to strikes from Matty Skelton, Joe Davies and Henri Royals. . In the girls’ Under 13 age group , perhaps the most impressive performance of the round went to the Reilly duo for Emerson Park Academy (Havering) as they eased into Round 2 with a 14-0 romp over St Thomas More School (Blackheath) as Megan Reilly and Faith Reilly netted ten goals between them.

Under 14s competition

Cardinal Hume RC School (Gateshead) started the defence of their Boys’ Under 14 Schools’ Cup crown with a convincing 3-1 win over St Aidan’s Academy (Sunderland) thanks to efforts from Jack Thompson (2) and Joseph Cleghorn. In the girls’ competition, last year’s champions Bohunt School (Wokingham) got off to a blistering start as they thumped Leighton Park school from Reading, 10-0, with Shergill and Thomason both registering hat-tricks, a brace for Steadman and single strikes for Thorpe and Jackson completing the rout.

Under 15s competition

In the Under 15 category, arguably the most successful school in the history of schools’ football, Thomas Telford School, began the defence of their national title with a convincing 8-0 win over Wolgarston School from Stafford. Tyler Roberts (3) Joe Humphries, Oliver Tipton, Brad Taylor, Harry Scotton-Peters and Adam Taylor completed the scoring for the Shropshire based outfit. Finleigh Dorans-Smith was the hero for Jane Austen College as she scored both goals to edge her team past Bury St Edmunds County Upper School, 2-1, after extra time, in the girls’ category. Katie Hughes (2) Lauren Sharples and Faye Coulthard all registered on the score sheet to see Rainhill High School (St Helens) progress beyond Range High School (Sefton) into Round Two of the Under 15 Girls’ Cup.

Last years’ Under 15 champions, St Francis Xavier’s College, Liverpool, were too strong for local rivals Kirkby High School as they secured a 6-1 victory to progress to the next round of the U16 Boys’ Premier League Schools’ Cup and set up a tie against St Peter and St Paul Catholic College from Halton.In the Under 16 Premier League Girls’ Cup, Meadowhead School (Sheffield) and Penistone Grammar School (Barnsley) served up a goal feast as Meadowhead eventually managed to get the better of their opponents in an 8-6 thriller thanks to four goals from Lauren Evison, a brace from Emily Furniss and Harriett Lloyd.

Under 18s competition

Repton School got their season off to a flying start with a 9-1 win over Derby Moor Academy as they began the defence of their Under 18 Schools’ Cup crown with goals from Buffin (3), Barnes-Batty (2), Raine, Kurmaly, Edwards and Bowman. South Dartmoor Community College (Devon) showed that they mean business this season as they recorded a 10-1 win against EF Academy (Torbay) with hat-tricks from Tom Prew and Sam Taylor and a double from Joe March, with Joe Roche and Ben Goldsworthy completing the scoring.

Round Houston Cup

Additionally, the start of October also marked the return of the SAFIB Rod Houston Cup, a three day U14 girls’ Home Nations tournament held at Lilleshall National Sports Centre in Shropshire.This season we had the ESFA Girls U13 PlayStation 9-a-Side Schools’ Cup Champions Bohunt School Wokingham from England, the Bank of Ireland U13 FAI Schools’ First Year Girls National Cup Champions Sacred Heart School (Westport) from the Republic of Ireland, U13 Girls Welsh Schools’ Cup Champions Ysgol Gymraeg Bro Morgannwg from Wales and multiple ESFA National Schools’ Cup winners St. Ivo School (Huntingdon) from England.

The final game of tournament headlined the two remaining unbeaten teams in Bohunt School Wokingham and Sacred Heart School, both ready to battle it out to lay claim to the SAFIB Rod Houston Cup title 2018. Bohunt School were eventually named as Champions of the tournament, bringing the title home to England once more.

For more information on English Schools’ FA Cup competitions visit www.esfa.co.uk/competitions

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DON’T FORGET you still have time to enter our U12 Girls’ 9-a-side competition, which is open until Saturday 10 November.