Honley High School are celebrating national cup success.
Their Under 14 football team beat Northampton School for Boys 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out in the PlayStation-sponsored final at Reading’s Madejski Stadium.
The finalists had drawn 2-2 in normal time, Honley twice coming from behind with goals from Tom Yarwood and Jack Bland before keeper George Sykes-Kenworthy made two saves in the shoot-out to ensure the silverware came to Huddersfield.
The final was part of the PlayStation Schools’ Cup Festival, which was the culmination of this season’s exciting partnership between PlayStation and the English Schools’ FA.
Fifteen finals from Under 12 to Under 15 featuring both boys’ and girls’ teams took place across three days – and 722 teams entered the competition which Honley won.
Representatives from both PlayStation and the ESFA were on hand to present the trophy and medals to Honley High School who celebrated their success in front of friends, family and fellow pupils.
As well as getting their hands on the trophy, the team had a day to remember as they not only had the opportunity to play on the pitch at a professional stadium, but also have their pre-match team talk from former England striker Bobby Zamora in the dressing room.
Honley got through to the final by beating North Chadderton High and Newall Green High 9-2 and 9-3 respectively in the first two rounds.
They went on to beat Denton Community College 8-1, Bacup & Rawtenstall Grammar 9-1, St Aidan’s CE High 3-1 and Wilmslow High 5-2.
Childwall Sports and Science Academy were beaten 13-4 to book a place in the quarter-finals, where Honley defeated Eccleshill School 3-1.
In the semi-finals, Honley were 4-3 winners over Malet Lambert.
They prepared for the showpiece with coaching sessions from Town legend Andy Booth and the Huddersfield Town Community Programme coaches.
Coached by Noel O’Connor, the Honley squad included Alex Wright, Nathan Beaumont, Johnathon Woodall, Jack Bland, Tyreke Dewar-Moodie, Adam Page, Tom Yarwood, Isaac Dyson, Cameron McGrath, James Rawlinson, Jordan Williams, George Sykes-Kenworthy, Alfie Copley and James Sunderland.
The Honley lads had previously won the Huddersfield Schools’ league, cup and five-a-side in addition to beating ST Wilfreds 8-2 in the final of the West Yorkshire Schools’ County Cup.
Coach O’Connor said: “The boys have been fantastic all season, winning all their fixtures, and averaging over eight goals per game speaks for itself.
“Their commitment, team togetherness and work ethic has been a credit to them and winning all these competitions is just reward.”
The partnership between PlayStation and the English Schools’ FA (ESFA) has been set up to provide a boost to grassroots football and help increase the engagement in competitive football for secondary school age categories.
A host of PlayStation Schools’ Cup competitions have been staged in the 2013-14 season and have involved almost 2,000 schools and 100,000 players.
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