THE Wade High School touch football team can now say they are among the best players in the state after grabbing bronze at the NSW All Schools State Finals earlier this month.
The team, comprising students from years 9 and 10, travelled to Penrith to test their mettle against the very best from public, Catholic and independent schools across the state.
Wade High School had convincing wins against Parkes High School, Picnic Point High School, Tweed River High School and Wingham High School.
The only loss came during the round robin against eventual state champions Hills Sports High School, but the local girls still managed to finish second in their pool at the end of the knockout competition.
Wade High School then entered the NSW quarter-finals with confidence and came up against Tomaree High School from Nelson Bay.
Despite being down by two touchdowns, the Wade girls were not about to give up and stormed home in the final sections of the match with tries to Daisy Tyrell and Alex Scobie to force the match into an extra time drop off.
Play continued until there were only three players from each team remaining. A desperate diving touch from young Hannah Farronato saved what would have been a certain touchdown to Tomaree.
The Wade girls then built up the pressure and with a wonderful set move, put Zoe Whitworth into a space where she sprinted away from her defender to score the winning try.
Wade High then came up against Hills Sports High School in the semi-final where the game was extremely close.
The contest sea-sawed from the opening whistle, with outstanding defence being shown by the Wade High School girls.
Hills Sports High School from Sydney eventually ran out to win the game 4-2.
Hills Sports went on to defeat Benowa State High School from Queensland in a drop off in the grand final.
The Wade High team was one of the teams who had travelled the furthest and this is the third year in a row the Wade team has made the NSW semi-finals.
The team consisted of seven girls who also represented the Riverina Under 15s team at the NSW Championships in Newcastle three weeks ago. The Riverina team also finished third in NSW after narrowly being beaten by eventual winners Sydney North.
Year 9 student Madeline Lyons was also selected in the NSW under 15s team for the second year in a row.
The team consisted of Daisy Tyrell, Natasja Vasta, Alex Scobie, Madeline Lyons, Zoe Whitworth, Emma Signor, Lauren Signor, Alanna Farronato, Hannah Farronato, Bailee McDonald and Teagan Carnell.