METROPOLITAN Catholic Schools (MCS) dominated the open boys division at Tuesday's NSW Combined Catholic Colleges (NSW CCC) touch football carnival at Dubbo's Riverbank Ovals.
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More than 500 of the state's best touch players converged on Dubbo for the annual carnival, which also served as a trial for the state teams.
The side remained undefeated throughout the day's games and secured a 5-2 victory in the open boys grand final over Broken Bay Catholic Schools (BBCS).
MCS opens coach Matthew Hartigan said he was very impressed with the side, which includes a number of Australian under-18 representatives.
"The boys were outstanding," Hartigan said.
"Came together off a short preparation and the boys did everything I asked across the whole day, so it was really good."
BBCS was also bested in the open girls grand final, going down narrowly to the Catholic Girls Secondary Schools Sporting Association (CGSSSA) 4-3.
Wagga Wagga was the only country diocese to win a final, with the under-15 girls besting Parramatta 2-1, while Wagga's under-15 boys went down to Metropolitan Catholic Colleges 4-0.
Carnival coordinator Nicole Grose said the day was a success, with about 600 students all exhibiting a very high level of skill.
"Apart from a little bit of spotty rain and what not... the carnival has run very smoothly which has made my job a lot easier," Grose said.
"Minimal injuries which has been good and it's been a very fair and quality touch carnival.
"It's a state championship and it is a selection process for these Catholic school kids so the standard is quite high, it's the best that the Catholics can put on offer for both opens and 15s so it's a very high standard."
The tyranny of distance was the main challenge facing the regional students, with the Bathurst Diocese teams only training together for the first time the night before the carnival.
"It's really difficult, especially for the country kids because our schools are so far apart so they don't get to meet for training," Grose said.
"For the city kids obviously it's a little bit different, obviously they live a little closer, they can obviously have their training runs but yeah definitely the country kids' preparation isn't as good as the city kids'."
But Hartigan said having students spread across greater Sydney also proved a challenge.
"They come from a whole raft of schools so just finding that gelling as one - they did really well at that," Hartigan said.