FOOTBALL Mid North Coast's under 18 zone championship will be contested by the premiers and champions of both the north and south competitions, Tinonee Eagles and Kempsey Saints.
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The game will be played at the Regional Stadium, Port Macquarie starting at 7.45pm on Friday.
Championship matches in the under 12, 13, 14 and 16 divisions will be on Saturday leading into the Football Mid North Coast Premier League grand finals.
Kempsey Saints White went undefeated during the regular season and finished at the top of the table by eight points. Tinonee Eagles lost three regular season matches and pipped Great Lakes Vikings at the top of the table by one point.
Saints did it the hard way in the final series, going to a penalty shootout twice on their way to the grand final.
In the semi-final, they suffered their only loss of the season when they went down 4-1 on penalties against second placed Port United Dragons after the sides were locked at 1-1 after extra time.
Again in the final, penalties were required after Saints were locked at 0-0 after extra time with third placed Port Saints Sharks.
A 5-3 win in the shootout secured their grand final appearance where they again faced the Dragons, this time coming away with a 2-0 victory and the title.
A number of the Saints players are in their third season of under 18s. A number have also had premier league and men's Northern League experience.
It was smoother sailing for Tinonee Eagles for their finals series. They advanced straight to the grand final with a 3-2 win over second placed Great Lakes Vikings in the qualifying semi-final. That secured the team a week off before the title decider where they again came up against the Vikings. A 4-1 win for the Eagles secured the title and booked their zone championship place.
The Eagles side came together this season with a mixture of players from the 2018 under 16 and 18 Tinonee sides and everything fell into place for the team this season.