ST BEDE'S and St Joseph's Catholic College claimed some of English education's biggest scalps in winning the England Schools' Under-18s' Plate quarter-finals.

The Heaton-based school, who defeated hosts Warwick School, Southport's Birkdale School and Harrow School from Middlesex, had to overcome several hurdles for the event.

With only a tiny pool of their own, they had to train at Tong School, while only three of the nine St Bede's pupils taking part were from the Upper Sixth (Year 13), with two from Year 12, three from Year 11 and one from Year Ten.

With teacher Matthew Wright and the legendary Stan Connell, who has put in over 50 years' service at the school, in charge of the team, St Bede's and St Joseph's defeated Birkdale School 10-1, Warwick School 7-5 and Harrow School 6-2 on their way to the semi-finals early next year, while the Bradford school's Daniel Colehan was man of the tournament.

Wright said: "Our first game was the opening one of the tournament, and we spoke about the importance of getting off to a good start to give us the mental edge.

"Knowing Birkdale quite well from previous years, we knew we had the opportunity to kill the game off quickly by playing with high intensity from the first whistle, and the team did just that.

"We never allowed them a moment to think on the ball, forcing mistakes and winning possession for ourselves and, with our experience and quality going forward, we managed to finish the first half 6-1 ahead.

"The team then showed excellent game-management by slowing down our play and reserving ourselves slightly as we knew we had our rivals Warwick next.

"It was a comfortable 10-1 win in the end but more pleasing was the professionalism and sportsmanship the team showed throughout."

As for Warwick, Wright said: "This was always going to be our biggest game. Warwick are probably our biggest rivals, and that stemmed from this group of players several years ago when we caused an upset by beating Warwick for the first time.

"Since then, all the games we've played have been close. This was no different! It was end-to-end and you couldn't blink for fear of missing something.

"However, in the first half we dominated in attack and were really organised in defence and, if not for a deflected shot and us giving away a silly penalty in the last minute of the first half, we would have led 4-1. However, the score was 4-3 at half-time.

"The lads had already given everything and I feared there wasn't much left in the tank, but all I had to ask them was if they wanted to give the bragging rights to Warwick?

"The final score tells you the answer. We managed to step it up another gear and used our experience well to finish the game off."

Then came the final game against Harrow – one of England's two most famous schools.

Wright said: "We really didn't know what to expect from Harrow as this was the first time we'd been drawn against them.

"Looking at them, you would have thought they had turned up to a rugby tournament, and that reflected in their play.

"The first half was a tough one for us as we were still worn out from the effort we put in against Warwick, coupled with the fact Harrow were on a high from just winning their previous game.

"Luckily we managed to get to half-time in the lead at 3-2. However, it could have quite easily gone the other way if not for our young goalkeeper Cameron 'The Cat' Fairbairn, who was 'on fire'.

"The second half was about to get underway when all our lads fired each other up, determined to beat a school like Harrow, and the quote I liked the most 'Let’s show em what Bradford lads can do!'

"We managed to step the level up and finish the game off, with the final score 6-2."

Wright added: "From leaving first thing in the morning to getting back at 10.30pm, due to a three-hour delay due to traffic, the team once again showed, through their attitude and behaviour, just what it takes to be a representative of school.

"To top it off, we played some excellent water polo and managed three fantastic results."

St Bede's and St Joseph's team: Matthew McLoughlin (13B), Benn Adams (13F), Lewis Lunn (13L), Simon McDermott (12E), Sam Rocchio (12I), Dominic Walker (11C), Jack Sheehan (11A), Daniel Colehan (11C), Cameron Fairbairn (10A).