HEATHCOTE High School 2019 UNIVERSITY Shield CHAMPIONS Team Photo (Photo : steve montgomery / OurFootyTeam.com)

Heathcote High on Tuesday booked their spot in the University Shield grand final with a comprehensive victory of the highly fancied Chifley College at the spiritual home of rugby league in the shire….Anzac Oval.

Heathcote’s meteoric rise, which is built on attitude, grit and effort has seen them this year reach the semifinals of the Australian Schoolboy Trophy and their performance on Tuesday was no different. Although they were outsized physically they out enthused Chifley College.

In front of a big local crowd and in a rain affected game, Heathcote raced to a quick lead with a great eyes up play from their 9, Eli Ferguson and Conor Robson scored in the corner. After absorbing a 10 minutes onslaught from Chifley who held superior field position, Luke Mason took on the line to score next to the posts to set up a 10-0 lead. The third try came from a great lead up play from the Heathcote middles and some individual brilliance from Luke Mason led to Logan McKinley scoring next to the posts to go into the break 16-0 up.

The second half saw much of the first where Heathcote won the arm wrestle and dominated the middle third of the field. Blake Hosking dodged several players and wrestled his way out of three defenders grasp to race 40m to score under the posts making it 22-0.

Chifley rallied after a scrappy section of play and were piggy backed several times down field with penalties given away by Heathcote. The constant pressure on Heathcote’s line finally folded with Chifley scoring and with the conversion successful, it was 22-6.

With 10 minutes to go on the clock, Chifley capitalized on a loose ball and sprinted down the sideline bumping off three players to score in the corner to make it 22-10. Heathcote, although sustaining two tries, dug in deep and asserted their authority again in the middle third. A loose pass from Chifley’s 5/8 saw Blake Barden pounce on the pass, intercept the ball and race 50m to put the game to bed and see Heathcote move into the grandfinal for the first time in the schools history. The icing on the cake was when the cult figure of the team, Tommy Lee, converted the try to see the score finish at 28-10.

Heathcote HS play Bass HS in the grand final on Tuesday at Campbelltown Stadium and will be massive underdogs to a school who competes in the Australian Schoolboy Cup. However with the ‘it’s not the size of the dog in the fight mentality’, Heathcote will not leave any stone unturned in their preparation for the game. They are up against a much bigger opponent whose power game was evident in their semi final win over Hunter River High School 22-10.