It all came down to the final soccer match, but Dubbo College Senior Campus was unable to take out the win in the second round of the Astley Cup.
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Dubbo battled it out against Orange High School on Wednesday afternoon.
Although there were strong performances in the women's soccer and athletics, it was the one-nil loss in the men's soccer that secured Orange's victory. The goal to give Orange the win was scored in the final 15 minutes of the match.
The final points score across the two days saw Orange finish with 421 and Dubbo with 379.
It's been 10 years since Dubbo has taken home the Astley Cup.
But if Bathurst beats Orange in the final round next term, the Dubbo side could still be in with a chance. A Bathurst win against Orange will give every school one point, which means the win will be determined on a points countback.
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However, while their win is uncertain, Dubbo College still had plenty of moments worth cheering about on Wednesday.
Millie Gooch and Nathan Towart's athletics displays notched up plenty of points for Dubbo College.
Gooch won all five of her events - long jump, high jump, 100 metres, 400 metres and 4x100 metres - and had nothing but praise for the supporters on both sides.
"I'm feeling really good to be with the Orange people and my teammates are really good supporters so it's good to run against the town and do the best that we can," she said.
"The wins are really important but the atmosphere, the senior campus, keeping confident and positive and it's allowing us to do the best job that we can.
"I'm just hoping to do the best that I can, and if the wins come then that's a bonus."
The event was capped off by wins for Dubbo in both the men's and women's 4x100 metre relay.
This came as a disappointment to Orange High's anchor leg Ethan Nugent.
"It was a pretty good vibe and we were pretty close in most of them," he said.
"It was a bit heart-breaking. Obviously Nathan Towart is a freak at athletics so nothing you could do there. I was upset we didn't come first in anything, but still got places and those are vital."
Obviously Nathan Towart is a freak at athletics so nothing you could do there.
- Ethan Nugent
Towart was Dubbo's anchor and put in a tremendous 100 metres.
"It was good and hopefully puts us in a good position to win the cup," he said.
"I felt pretty good, pretty cold though.
"It was a big lead but I was just thinking don't get caught."
The Dubbo side also smashed it in the soccer, defeating Orange two-nil.
Kate Duffy, who scored one of the goals, said she was "pretty happy" with the results.
"Credit to Orange but I thought we were dominating that game, we just needed something to get us through at the end and the free kick really got the ball rolling for us," Duffy said.
"Super effort by the team and I couldn't ask for anything more."
"It means a lot to the school and had the crowd behind us the whole time which got us through it."
The other goal went to Amy Moore.
The same couldn't be said for Dubbo's tennis results.
Orange High School's Jarryd Seib and doubles partner Blake Weymouth defeated Dubbo's Ralph Capricho and Hugh Sienkiewicz.
Capricho said he was nervous heading into the match.
"I started to get into it towards the last few games but then it ended
"It was a bit disappointing."
Sienkiewicz said while he played "alright", there were too many mistakes that cost them the match.
The Orange pair were then taken to a tiebreak against Ralph Murray and Paddy Nelson, but prevailed in the end.
The 98th edition of the tri-school event will be determined when Bathurst takes on the Hornets in the events that were snowed out last week.
All three schools are still in with a chance of victory, but Dubbo's hopes are out of their own hands - a perilous spot to be in.
Soccer star Campbell Ross had his fingers crossed for a Dubbo overall win.
"We're still in it and we just have to hold our heads high and believe that we still have it in the bag," he said.
"We just had to hold our heads high because anything could happen to the last minute and keep pushing."
The whole of Dubbo will be keeping their fingers crossed that the side will take home the trophy.
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