Juniors tackle titles

Charlie Bohan’s team, Caves Corellas, won first place.

Chris Ison

THE WINNERS of the Red Rooster Junior Carnival over the weekend were yesterday crowing about their success.

More than 1000 kids from 80-plus teams across Central Queensland participated in the Rockhampton Junior Touch Association event, held at Cyril Connell Oval.

Girls and boys teams from 17-years-old and under competed in the two-day event.

Association administrator Denise Edwards said it was an extremely successful carnival.

She said most of the games provided hard-fought wins, with the grand finalists evenly paired.

"Most of the finals were very close," Edwards said.

"We had quite a few that went to a drop-off.

"(There was) a very large number of close games."

There was only one point separating the winners from the runners-up in the division one games for several grand final matches.

In the under-10 girls game, the Caves Corellas beat Cap Coast Beach Bay 1-0.

The under-10 boys saw Gladstone earn their victory from the Heights Knights, 2-1.

The under-12 girls team Emerald Beez Neez took the sting out of the Hornets, with a 2-1 win.

But it was a different story for the division one under-14 girls grand final, which saw the Buckaneers Blue run the Gladstone team's ship aground in a 6-0 win.

The under-17 girls Buckaneers Red team also pillaged the Blackwater team in their division one match, finishing 7-0.

Gladstone Blue won 5-2 against Hornets for the under-12 boys grand final and in the under-14 boys match Extreme NRG beat Cap Coast 6-4.

In the under-17 boys grand final, Cap Coast took on Cap Coast Untouchables and won 7-3.

Edwards said in past carnivals, all the games were jam-packed into one day, but in this year's event the extra teams saw the carnival spread over two days.

"Everyone loved the concept of two days," she said.

"Especially the younger kids who hadn't had the opportunity to go to a carnival before."

She said she was impressed with the high standard of play from all the competitors, with referees only having good reports for the teams all weekend.

But the stand-out team for the weekend weren't the winners, but the under-12 boys team, the Pink Panthers.

Edwards said the group played to raise money for the prevention of breast cancer.

She said the team were sponsored by Rockhampton business Buddy's Fire Sales and Service, who donated $5 for every point the Pink Panthers scored.

"They also went around and asked for donations," Edwards said.

"I think they collected about $1000.

"It was fantastic."

The Rockhampton Junior Touch Association will hold a junior clinic on Sunday, November 13, for children between nine and 14 years old.

It will be held between 9am and noon.