PORT STEPHENS’ emerging junior football talent have featured prominently in this year’s Northern NSW Football Community State Youth Championship campaign.

Thirty-five of the region’s up and coming prospects represented Newcastle with distinction at the prestigious annual tournament staged at the Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility.

Newcastle were crowned the premier region for 2024 after clinching the Under 12 Girls, Under 12 Boys, Under 13 Boys, Under 14 Girls and Under 16 Boys championship titles.

All five squads turned in spirited team efforts throughout the competition against strong opposition to bring home deserved trophies.

One of the finest accomplishments came from the Newcastle Under 12 Boys side that defeated Macquarie Football 1-0 in an absorbing Grand Final.

Under the expert tutelage of Tilligerry United FC coach Spencer Doyle, the Newcastle young guns impressed keen judges with their enterprising play in attack and bustling defence.

The team featured Medowie FC juniors Jack Blue, Toby Cox, Byron Hunt, Taylor Walker, Chace White and Lachlan Wright; Tilligerry United products Jacob Bonham and Luka Vuletic; and Nelson Bay FC duo Nick Campbell and Finn Dellow.

Other squad members included Rory Martin, Kai Pascoe and Hugh Stathis from Cooks Hill FC, Sam Geoghegan (Kotara South FC) and Cael Tuckerman (Merewether FC).

After a first up 1-0 loss to Macquarie in the pool fixtures, the Newcastle 12s showed their class with victories over Hunter Sky Blue (6-0) and Hunter Maroon (3-0 and 7-1) and two hard fought draws with Macquarie (1-1) and Hunter Sky Blue (0-0) to advance to the trophy decider.

The talented Vuletic scored the winning goal for Newcastle to cap a superb performance.

Coach Doyle told News Of The Area that claiming the championship title was “a tremendous achievement” by his young charges.

“Despite a disrupted preparation due to the inclement weather the boys joined forces and worked very hard to earn their success,” reflected the former Southampton junior.

“Constant rain in the lead up to the tournament hampered our preparations but we managed to organise three half hour matches against the Adamstown Rosebuds Junior Premier League Under 12s squad that proved beneficial,” Doyle added.

A proud Spencer pointed to the side’s combative spirit and depth of talent across the pitch as the ingredients for success.

He praised the courage of rising striker Lachie Wright and performances of boom forward Byron Hunt, right wing Jack Blue, centre defence Jacob Bonham and the gifted left wing Vuletic in steering the team to victory.

“All the boys showed their potential with Lachie making a huge impact on the field despite nursing a foot injury,” revealed Doyle.

“Lachie is a top prospect and he inspired team mates with his goal scoring prowess and support play,” he said.

Newcastle’s triumphant Under 12 Girls squad featured top Tilligerry United juniors Zoe Adams and Scarlet Christie and Medowie’s Amariyah Wilson.

The team was coached by Minmi FC’s Laura Bradford and also featured Bailey Brooks, Holly Cummings, Violet De Wit, Porsha Dolan, Elke Fink and Zahra Payne from Stockton Sharks FC; Bronte Senior (Kotara South FC), Matilda Moore (New Lambton FC), Ellie Groth (Mayfield United FC) and Lilliana Grabda (South Wallsend FC).

Eight Port Stephens representatives figured in Newcastle’s championship-winning Under 13 Boys squad.

They included rising Medowie FC prospects Noah Davison, Cooper Deacon, Jonah Dorn, Owen Kempf, Tyler Lavender and Lincoln Prout and Nelson Bay’s Xavier Grill and Rhys Stratilas.

Other squad members were Hugo Bourke, Oliver Croft, Silas Donald, Ben Hensell, Jimmy Walker and coach Hamish McLean (Kotara South FC), Travis Campbell (South Wallsend FC), Brady Mylan (Stockton Sharks FC) and Kobi Newman (New Lambton FC).

Medowie FC coach Jaye Walker guided the Newcastle Under 13 Girls squad that featured Port Stephens juniors Alexis Funnell, Ella Gillespie and Lillianah Skaines (Medowie FC) plus Ava Chamberlain and Hannah Clarke of Tilligerry United.

Other team members were Evie Harrison, Isabella Hingley-Terry, Clancy Hogan, Ruby Jeffrey and Matilda Lawrence of Kotara South; Kaitlin Smith and Lucinda Watson (Stockton Sharks), Lara Hardes (Wallsend), Elissa Noy (New Lambton) and Lily Reece (South Wallsend).

Newcastle Under 14 Boys squad featured talented Nelson Bay juniors Fred Ball, Harper Bradley, Alex Campbell, Joseph Diemar, Archie Gordon, Will Harasti, Ashton Holliday, Jason Huang, Ashton Kime, Thomas Mayne and coach Dave Harasti plus Medowie trio Cooper Brewster, Caleb Pacevski and Koby Spencer.

Other squad members were Leo Craven-Sands and Matt Hunter (Mayfield United) and Reed Hoskins (Kotara South).

Tilligerry United’s Jessica Evans coached the winning Newcastle Under 14 Girls squad that comprised ten Stockton Sharks reps in Rubie Corrigan, Brienna Evans, Drew Heffernan, Keira Horder, Ava Knight, Emily Mitchell, Ella Robinson, April Savage, Sophie Scott and Xanthe Shields; Josephine Agelavu, Arabella Rose and Nicole Stojkovski of Adamstown Rosebuds plus Celeste Anderson, Isla O’Donoghue, Stella Perrett (New Lambton) and Juliet McNicol (Mayfield United).

By Chris KARAS