23 May 2023
In 2019, the Westville Boys’ High 1st hockey team went through the season unbeaten, winning 15 matches and drawing three. Those results included a victory over Jeppe in a much-hyped showdown between the top two rated sides in South Africa.
Pinnacle Schools recently sat down with Westville 1st XI coach Cam Mackay to talk about that memorable season. Interestingly, he said that before it began it wasn’t clear that he had a special group.
The best player in the team was Ethan Matkovich, who was in grade 11. “Ethan, Randal [Govender] and Josh Davies came into the school as top hockey players, because they were KZN under-13 players. Ethan was a special, special kid, and Josh Davies was really special, as well. I think Randal came from Maidstone. He was super athletic, but raw.”
Luke Allen became a special player, Mackay said, while Wynand Steynberg, who had been an average player in the 1st XI the previous year, became “the perfect centre back for Ethan”. Describing Steynberg’s defence, Mackay termed it “impeccable”.
One thing the 2019 team had in spades was excellent leadership. Not just from one player, but from a number of them.
“We had so much leadership,” Mackay reckoned. “Luke Allen, great kid, great leader. Josh Davies is the best captain, definitely, I’ve ever coached. I think he made a huge mark on this team.
“Ethan was always the captain in his years. He wasn’t abrasive and in-your-face. He did his job, and he did it perfectly. He set the tone for everyone else.”
More hope than belief
As the start of the season approached, Mackay said there was more hope than belief that a good year awaited. “We were hoping we would be good enough. Once we got going…they were a team that never looked like they would slow down.”
The match that he remembers most clearly, because of the high standard of the Griffins’ performance, came towards the end of the season, when they took on a strong Michaelhouse team that include a number of national players. They were a really good side, Mackay said.
“I remember when their forwards got the ball, they were so tired from defending all the time that they just couldn’t actually do anything going forward.” Westville’s intensity was too much for Michaelhouse.
“I think it came down to Ethan Matkovich’s back four stuff. He was just exceptional. They just sat there and controlled it,” said Mackay.
Matkovich, who missed out on playing hockey in his matric year because of the Covid-19 pandemic, was a player who dictated how the game would be played by both sides.
“His ball pace was just on another level,” Mackay explained. “He was such a strong, good hockey player, and he just didn’t make mistakes. He didn’t try to overdo it. He was the perfect centre-back.
His decision-making, too, was top-notch. “He didn’t always want to throw overheads. When he needed to, he could.
“Then Josh Davies coming into midfield. We could still roll the midfield.”
Player improvement
Something else that helped the team was the step up taken by a number of its players, especially on defence. Mackay previously mentioned Wynand Steynberg at centre-back. Aiden van Rooyen, who ran out at left-back, was “incredible”, in his estimation.
“Still, to this day, I’d say the best left-back I’ve seen in schoolboy hockey. He was exceptional.
“I remember him playing in the under-16 B team and I loved him. I never knew why he was in the B team.
“The next year I put him in the first team squad to go to this St Stithian’s Festival and I remember the convenor of SA U18 men saw this kid play for five minutes and he said to me ‘Hey Cam, who’s that guy?’, and he said ‘he should be making SA Schools this year’. He was a 16-year-old kid.
“Luke Allen was our right back and Aiden our left back, and it meant we could just go forward the whole day.”
Picking one’s poison
The high-quality defensive foundation meant Westville were never predictable going forward. They had options and were versatile. No matter what presses other teams threw at the Griffins, it was a case of picking one’s poison.
“We could go down the left and hurt teams. We could go down the right, and if we needed to go down the middle, Josh [Davies], as a center-mid, was just exceptional as well.
“Then, Josh Korte was a really good attacking midfielder, as well. Jared Slaney, who coaches for us now, was a big boy, an imposing figure, and he was the added midfielder we needed. It was just a perfect midfield.
“There’s been a few years that I can say we had a perfect person for each position. This was kind of that year.”
Goal scoring
One thing the Westville team did not have, though, was a natural goal-scorer, so it became a team effort. It also meant that some positional changes took place during the course of the season.
“The forwards were Mazwi [Meyiwa], Keagan [Maccallum] and Josh Korte.” Korte started the season in the midfield, but Mackay then moved him up front, bringing the talented Randal Govender, who was in grade 9, into the midfield. The forwards didn’t produce a lot of goals individually, but they forced plenty of penalty corners, and Westville enjoyed consistent success from the set piece.
They featured two castles, with Luke Allen on the first and Ethan Matkovich on the second, but they sometimes switched castles. Matkovich had a very deceptive flick, said Mackay, utilising his strong wrists to disguise where the ball was going.
Matkovich was also an excellent cricketer, Mackay added, recalling a match against Michaelhouse in which the future Westville 1st XI captain shone while all around him crumbled. “We made 126 and I think he made 90. The rest of the team kept coming out and kept saying we can’t bat on this pitch, and Matko, it was so easy for him.
“He really had a deceptive flick on him. Then, Luke Allen was never a flicker the whole way through school. In grade 11, he practiced and became really, really good – just down the castle, perfect flick into the bottom corner. He became really, really important with PC goals.”
That was one of the keys to an excellent record: Westville won 74 penalty corners and scored 26 of them. That’s a 35 percent clip. They conceded only 43 and, of those, just seven were scored. That’s a 16 percent rate. Do the maths, that’s a big plus for the Griffins.
During the season, the match many will remember with particular fondness was the showdown with Jeppe. That is made clear by the fact that there is a photo of it on the wall in the Sports Office. Westville entered the contest having posted eight wins and one draw in their nine outings.
“They were probably better than us”
Straight up, Mackay said something very interesting: “They were probably a better team than us. Ryan Mann, I think, was their best player. They had a really good team and Jeppe had the same mentality as Maritzburg College, back in the day. They think they are better than everyone and that year they probably were better than everyone.
“I remember them at KES, they beat Kearsney 7-1, and Kearsney probably had one of their best teams they’ve ever had. Jeppe tore them apart. They were a special team to play against.”
During the game, Wynand Steynberg suffered a cut to an eyebrow. But he refused to leave the field. His courage and bandaged head epitomised the determined Westville effort.
“It was an incredible game, because it was end to end,” Mackay recalled. “Anyone could have won it, but the manner in which we won…
“I’ve still got the video from DigiTV. The footage was really cool.
“We had a PC. The ball dropped to Jared Slaney after he pushed, and he first-timed it, into the roof of the net. I don’t think he would be able to do it again. The photos we got from that winning moment were exceptional.”
“It was very cool. I remember a lot of people being there,” Mackay said. Afterwards, though, he said he felt ill. It was likely a stress reaction to a day of incredible hockey; he had also coached the under-16 A team to a win over their vaunted rivals from Johannesburg.
“I needed to catch my breath after that game because I think they were also probably a little better than us that day, but things just worked out.”
The 1st XI game came to a heart-in-mouth ending, Mackay said: “Someone made a mistake and Josh Davies had to run basically the full length of the field, and he stopped them in our own D, and he got the ball out. They said it was a PC, and it became controversial. Luckily it wasn’t, and the video showed it wasn’t [a PC].”
After that win, Westville went on to the Founders Festival. It was there, fresh off their loss to the Griffins, that Jeppe made Kearsney pay for their defeat.
Westville, meanwhile, logged another four wins, opening with a 3-0 victory over Paarl Boys’ High, followed by 1-0 wins over KES, Saint John’s and Waterkloof. Usually, one goal was all they needed. They conceded only 13 all season long. Only Jeppe, in that epic 3-2 victory, scored more than once against an outstanding defence.
Two other matches that stood out for Cam Mackay were the local clashes with Northwood and Kearsney.
Interesting selection
A number of players were missing for the clash with the Knights. One of the enforced changes meant Sdingo Zuma, who had begun the season in the 3rd XI, cracked the nod for Westville.
Explaining his selection, Mackay said: “We thought he presses well. He works hard. We gave him a chance and he scored the third goal in the game, when [Northwood coach] Sean Baker had taken the keeper off.
“Josh Davies scored a really good goal – turnover, carry himself, eliminate the keeper, put it in. Then, Sdingo scored the goal to win the game. So, that game, the Northwood game, always stood out for me.”
After Northwood, Westville beat Affies 2-0, which was their second win over the Pretoria boys in the season. Then, they played to a goalless draw against Hilton, in a game Mackay described as “boring”. That was followed by a 1-1 draw with Maritzburg College.
“They weren’t a bad College team, but we were definitely better than them. We should have scored one or two goals. I think we settled for a draw, but we were okay with it.”
Kearsney clash
The season ended with the Kearsney match. As near neighbours, it always has a bit if extra bite to it. “I remember Luke Allen scored a really good flick. I think Matko also, both scored flicks.
“That was a cool game for us. We really wanted to finish that season properly and it was a cool way for us finish. I think it might have been on our Old Boys’ Day,” Mackay said.
It ended 3-1 in favour of the Griffins.
National and Provincial selections
Pinnacle Schools asked Mackay to try to recall the representative teams his players made that year. “So, Zane do Pinheiro was KZN under-18B. Luke Allen made the C team, then got called up to the B side. Wynand Steynberg was in the B side, I think.
“Matko made the SA under-18 side. Aidan van Rooyen was in the KZN under-18A team, I think, but he broke his hand. Randal would have been the under-16 side that I coached. Josh Davies was SA under-18B. Jared Slaney made the KZN… I think he made the SA under-18B, might have. Josh Korte under-18A or B.
“Mazwi Meyiwa made the under-18A, I think, or B. Keagan Maccallum made the B side, and then William Gillatt was a youngster, he was with me in under-16. Buhlali Mhlanzi was with me in the under-16 side.”
Results
Westville 3-1 Glenwood
Westville 4-0 Parktown
Westville 2-1 Affies
Westville 2-0 Queen’s College
Westville 6-0 Dale College
Westville 7-1 Potchefstroom Boys’ High
Westville 1-1 SACS
Westville 2-1 QM
Westville 6-0 DHS
Westville 3-2 Jeppe
Westville 3-0 Paarl Boys’ High
Westville 1-0 KES
Westville 1-0 Saint John’s College
Westville 1-0 Waterkloof
Westville 6-3 Michaelhouse
Westville 3-1 Northwood
Westville 2-0 Affies
Westville 0-0 Hilton College
Westville 1-1 Maritzburg College
Westville 3-1 Kearsney College
Goal for 57, Goals against 13,
Goal for per game 2.85, Goals against per game 0.65
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