Port Kembla vs Dapto - GRAND FINAL
Sunday 3rd September, 2006
WIN Stadium

Port Kembla 13 (Ben Dove, Andrew Thomas Tries; Fouad Hijazi (2/2) Goals; Fouad Hijazi Field Goal) Defeated Dapto 12 (Ronald Kissell (2) Tries; Kale Harltey (2/4) Goals)

The Wollongong Asphalt Under 18 Blacks are the Illawarra Tooheys League Under 18 Premiers for 2006 after coming from behind to record a one point win against Minor Premiers Dapto at WIN STadium today. Down 10-Nil at half time and 12-0 early into the second term, Port stormed back, with a last minute forty-one metre Fouad Hijazi field goal proving the difference in the end.

The signs were ominous for Dapto early on with the ball dropped from the match start. Port gained a penalty for a ruck infringement and Ben Dove and Gavin Walsh both went close in the first real set, only to see Walsh relinquish possession reaching for the try line.

Dapto worked their way to the half and Kale Hartley put a high kick up which came down on the Port try line. The ball was allowed to bounce and the end result was Sandy Ulukita caught in goal.

Five into the game, Ben Dove made a good break and off-loaded to Ivan Buchanan, but the livewire back lost the ball when tackled, and when Port gave away a penalty shortly after for a ruck infringement of their own, Dapto were off the hook.

Dapto attacked in the seventh minute and a Kale Harltey grubber into Port's in goal almost paid dividends for the Canaries, but the ball evaded the outstretched hands of Ronald Kissell.

Dapto received possession courtesy of a Port mistake on their own thirty and looked to have crossed, only to see the Dapto replacement player lose the ball over the line.

The weight of possession finally turned into points in the 13th minute when Jordan Kupenga gave away a penalty for a high tackle and Ron Kissell found his way through the defence for the games opening points.

Three minutes later, another towering kick by Kale Hartley could not be handled by Sandy Ulukita, but Port held firm in defence and went on their own raid of the Dapto line five minutes later. It was the Canarie's turn to hold firm in defence and then work the ball out from their own line.

Buchanan was in the action again in the 24th minute when he broke the defences of Dapto and made his way to their twenty, but on the following play with the ball going wide, possession was turned over two metres from the Dapto tryline.

Dapto crossed for their second in the 26th minute when a switch of direction by Farquhar found Ron Kissell on the fly, the Dapto custodian stepping a slipping Kupenga to score. Kissell landed his first conversion of the game and Dapto found themselves with ten unanswered points at the break.

The margin was extended to twelve with a Harltey penalty goal from close range when Kris Sullivan was penalised with the ball for throwing a punch.

In the 6th minute, Billy Choubassi was called out for a coat hanger on Kris Sullivan twenty out from his own line. Port made Dapto pay for their latest indiscretion, Ben Dove waltzing over on the second play for Hijazi to convert and trim the gap to six points.

Port knocked on through Gavin Walsh from the restart, but Dapto let the opportunity slip by dropping the ball themselves almost immediately. The Blacks gambled by kicking from the scrum win inside their own ten metre line and Kane Linnett won the race to the ball only to be pushed off it by the Dapto chaser. Port received the penalty and two minutes later an on the fifth tackle, Andrew Thomas kicked short for himself and was all alone when he fell on the ball over the tryline, adjacent to the Dapto goal posts. Hijazi kicked true and the game was locked at 12 all with still twenty five minutes of the game remaining.

Kane Edwards was coathangered by James Forrest from the kick off, the Dapto front rower binned for ten minutes. Five minutes later, Edwards was binned himself, this time for laying on the tackled player when Dapto were just five metres from the Port Kembla tryline. The penalty was awarded five metres from Port's line, ten off centre, but the Canaries elected to tap the ball and run, losing it on the 3rd tackle and forgoing the chance to take the lead,

Sixteen minutes into the game, Hijazi passed to no-one, handing the ball back to Dapto on the halfway line. Ivan Buchanan was pulled up with the ball for lashing out in the tackle and out of frustration, Josh Michalowski kicked the ball in the direction of the referee, the incident resulting in Michalowski cooling his heels in the sin bin.

Port were down to eleven men against Dapto's 12, but this time the Canaries chose to shoot for goal, thirty metres from the posts and just off centre. The Port crowd went into raptures when Hartley's attempt went wide. Nevertheless, Dapto attacked Port's line again, this time ending with a dummy half fumble on the final tackle.

In the 21st minute Kale Harltey grubbered along the touch line. Buchanan seemed to dawdle to the ball thinking it was going into touch, but it stayed in a Dapto were unlucky not to score when a kick through evaded the chasers by rolling end over end over the dead-ball line.

A Dapto error handed possession to Port twenty out from teh Dapto line with just twelve left in the game, but Michael Abrahams lost the ball five out from Dapto's line with Port on the attack.

Billy Choubassi was held up over Port's line in the 27th minute and from the restart ten out, Hartley attempted a field goal that sailed wide. Port Kembla ttacked Dapto's line two minutes later before a final pass found it's way over the touch line.

A stepping and swivelling Ron Kissell put Dapto in good field position in the 28th minute, but the good work was undone when Dapto lost the ball on the next tackle.

With three minutes to play, Hartley attempted a thirty metre field goal, but the ball hardly made it's way off the ground before it was cleaned up by Buchanan.

Then, with the clock running down, Port found themselves just inside the Dapto forty on the final tackle. The ball went from Michalowski at dummy half to Hijazi, just behind the red forty metre line, and with a sweet swing of his boot, the ball went sailing over the Dapto posts as Port fans and players erupted all around the ground. The forty one metre field goal had given Port victory by a single point after being down 12-0 early in the second half.

The game was a great spectacle with play going from one end to the other. For Dapto, it was the "old" firm of Kale Hartley and Ronald Kissell that stole the show. The gifted footballers were in everything that Dapto did, with only Billy Choubassi standing out in the forwards.

For the Wollongong Asphalt Under 18 Blacks side, there were contributions right across the park. Hijazi's heroics will long be remembered, but Port's best came from Ben Dove in the forwards, Kane Linnett in the backs, and Aaron Griffiths in the middle.

The win gives the Port Kembla Club it's second Under 18 title in the space of three seasons, and is the shining light in what was otherwise a bleak season for the club.

PORT KEMBLA TEAM