MARIAN Catholic College has moved through to the round of 16 in the prestigious Bill Turner Cup after clinically disposing of Albury High School 3-0 in the Riverina final.
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The win has seen the school rubber-stamp itself as one of the best nurseries for young talent in New South Wales, having made the Riverina final for the past three years along with a Cup semi-final last year.
Despite experiencing a fair turnover of players from last year's talented side, Marian coach Jamie Gibbs said the team has improved with every minute they have played together.
"The first game the guys played they just won 1-0, but the next two they did really well to win 6-0 in both of them and then into the game against Albury," Gibbs said.
"But in saying that the game against Albury was a fait bit tougher, but the boys did a lot of training together and gelled as a team, so by the time we played Albury we were firing.
"Because although most of the guys do know each other, they are different age groups so they have not played together much at all before this.
"But in a big bonus for us we do have some of the players in first grade (locally)."
Played on the school grounds, and while the field used was smaller than what the players were used to, they maintained their structure to score twice in the first half to lead at the break.
Marian then slotted another chance home in the second stanza, but the score could have been even more as the home side thoroughly outplayed Albury.
"They (Albury) had a couple of shots on goal but our boys shut them down very well, our backline is very strong and our goalkeeper didn't have to do a lot but he did make a couple of good saves," Gibbs said.
"When I spoke to the other coach at the end of the game he said that our boys rang rings around them and that they were a very skilled and well-disciplined side which was good to hear."
Marian Catholic College will play their round of 16 game against Maribyrnong College from Melbourne who have joined the Bill Turner competition for the first time this season, but after winning their last game 9-0, they will provide a stern test for the Griffith school.
Marian Catholic College............................3
Albury High School...................................0
