The best in the business faced off against one another in the Group 2 Rugby League Under 13 Grand Final on Saturday.
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Both the Bowraville Tigers and the Sawtell Panthers had only lost the one game each all season - against each other - and were both coming off big semi-final wins.
Everyone knew this was going to be a hard game, with only six and two points separating the teams all year.
But the Bowra boys were definitely up for the contest: training well all week, and getting some words of encouragement from a few current Macksville first graders.
The Tigers got off to a great start, earning a repeat set off the boot of Rielly Laverty. Thanks to this Bowra's Hooker, Quinn Cooper, was able to dive over from Dummy Half next to the post, putting the first points on the board.
Reeion Jarrett's conversion saw Bowra up 6-0 after only four minutes.
But only a few sets later a Sawtell cross off a nice backline play saw the scoreboard at 6-4, going into the first quarter break.
When play resumed Sawtell once again spread it wide to the damaging second rower, who pummelled through Bowra's defensive line to race 60m and score under the posts. This saw the Tigers down for the first time in the match, 10-6.
With the sweltering conditions and only two Tiger Under 12s on the reserve bench - both who'd just finished playing their own final - the day was starting to take a toll on the Bowra side. But hope was still there, with only a four-point difference going into the halftime break.
After the break Sawtell came out all guns blazing and scored two 50m tries from soft defence.
The Bowra boys were really struggling to stay in the contest, now down 20-6 with only one quarter to go.
After a few words of encouragement from the coaching staff, a question was put to the team - 'how much do you really want this?'. The Tigers responded in the way they've played all year.
The forward pack started running through the Sawtell side, and, all of a sudden, Bowra's Gus Single placed a try in the corner.
Bowra was now down by 10 with six minutes to go.
A Sawtell error saw Bowra attack their line, some great ball movement finally found the hand of the man of the moment - Gus - who crossed once more for Bowra.
Reeion's sure foot found its mark and the conversion saw Bowra claw back to within four points, with only two minutes to go.
In one last throw of the dice, Bowra played their final set, but Sawtell's strong defence held the Tigers just over halfway on the fourth tackle.
A solid run saw the boys get within 30m of the line on the last.
As the buzzer sounded in the background, a last effort kick saw the ball roll along the ground with many hands going for it, but it was Sawtell that came out victorious, 20-16.
It was a massive effort from the Tigers, and they should be so proud of the way they've trained and played all year, especially only normally having 13-14 players.
Congratulations boys, you can hold your heads high.
