They made history a week ago, now Mareeba want to make it a regular occurance as they take on struggling Holy Spirit on Thursday. Watch the double header LIVE from 1.30pm.
Now they want to double down on their maiden victory in the elite schoolboys rugby league competition and give themselves a crack at making the finals when they face Holy Spirit College on Thursday.
The clash against Holy Spirit will be exclusively live streamed on KommunityTV, with the Cowboys Challenge kicking off the action from 1.30pm.
Mareeba’s 22-4 win against Mackay State High School was a long time coming.
The Tablelands school became the first from FNQ to enter a competition dominated in recent years by powerhouse Townsville nurseries Kirwan and Ignatius Park, two schools which have developed numerous NRL and Origin stars over the years.
The decision to make the leap was vindicated after monstrous performances by two-try heroes Narason Moorcroft-Kose and Reece Boyle, and captain Tyrone Williams – among a cast of strong outings – led to the breakthrough triumph.
LOOKING FOR ANOTHER GAME? Check out our Queensland Schoolboys Round 3 schedule below. Click the links to watch live
Mareeba principal Scott Whybird was one of the chief architects behind the school entering the Payne Cup, while coach Clinton Cifuentes and Northern Pride legend and Mareeba product Chris Sheppard has been among those who have put hours of work into the team.
After a text message congratulating Whybird on the result, the principal, who was unable to travel with the team to Townsville, shed some light on just how big it was.
“There has been a lot of hard work and this will be great for the whole school culture,” Whybird wrote.
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Cifuentes was overjoyed.
“The monkey is off the back now,” Cifuentes said. “All of our hard work is vindicated.
“We have all worked so hard at improving ourselves to be able to put in a performance like this.
“This was one of our goals, we targeted the game against Mackay at the start of the year – like we did last season but didn’t get the result.
“We got it this time.”
Mareeba won’t be taking Holy Spirit College lightly.
The Mackay school is coming off consecutive 30-4 losses to Mackay State High then St Augustine’s College, but have shown plenty of guts and determination in their first two outings.
While finals might be more out of reach than ever, Holy Spirit College will be keen to emulate Mareeba and register their win in the competition.
The game will be played for double points, with the schools agreeing to forgo a return fixture and put extra emphasis on this clash.
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