The red and blacks were down 24-20 inside the final minute of Friday afternoon’s Astley Cup rugby league clash and Bathurst High School looked like it might sneak home with a tough but well-deserved victory to cap a wonderful home tie.

But the Dubbo boys are never dead.

Not on the rugby league field.

And when Colby Peckham crashed over in the corner in the shadows of the full-time siren, after Dubbo had traveled 80 metres up field just to earn a sniff at victory, it was over to Crawford to seal the deal.

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The year 11 student didn’t even blink.

He moved in, struck it nicely with his right boot and it sailed over.

Crawford was mobbed and Dubbo College secured an incredible 26-24 victory at Carrington Park, after earlier trailing 24-16 mid-way through the second half.

“I wasn’t even worried about the kick, I thought 24-20 it was all over … that conversion was the icing on the cake,” Dubbo College coach Craig May said.

“I’ve got a team of year 11s … last night we lost our starting front-row but I had 18 kids and I’m proud of them.

“It’s a great conclusion to two fabulous days of competition. The spirit was fantastic. The way the Bathurst kids conducted themselves after the loss was super. That was devastating for them.”

Dubbo College’s start was sensational, scoring a converted try through speedy fullback Aiden Lake to lead 6-0, all before the hosts had touched the ball.

Bathurst’s reply was relatively swift through crafty hooker Matt Ellsmore before the teams went try-for-try through Brad Fearnley and then Elijah Colliss to ensure nothing separated either school at 12-all at the break.

As they did in the first half, Dubbo opened the scoring in the new term, too, through Brodie Ford before back-to-back tries from Fearnley and Nathan Ward – both of which the right boot of Noah Griffiths converted – skipped Bathurst ahead by eight.

The match reached boiling point with seven minutes remaining when Grifiths was dumped on his head in an ugly tackle. The incident was placed on report.

And despite Bathurst receiving the penalty, Dubbo was the side that lifted, scoring twice in the final five minutes to allow Crawford a shot at writing his name into the Astley Cup history books.

“I was watching, quietly hoping it wouldn’t go over but in my head I knew it was one of those ones that happens to sail over,” Bathurst High coach Phil Thurgood said.

“They stuck in there though, it was a good game of footy.”

Fearnley was the best player on the field, the Bathurst skipper bagging a double and, in general, proving a nightmare to tackle for the Dubbo defence.