Saxton Field was awash with hundreds of young footballers last week for a South Island regional football tournament.
Sixteen grade 10 and 11 teams battled it out in four pools over two days.
The players also had to contend with sunburn and hard grounds.
It came down to an all-FC Nelson final between the Pumas, which had only lost one game but had beaten Nelson Suburbs, and the older and uneaten Titans.
The rival coaches came together before the kick-off, anxious there was no sign of a referee.
Once he appeared, the teams went at it.
Against the run of play, the Pumas went 1-0 up as James Solis scored his 14th goal of the tournament but just before the end of the second 20-minute half, the Titans equalised.
They had won the last of their five games in a shootout but in the final the Pumas prevailed 3-1 with Emrys Simmonds slotting the winning goal.
Meanwhile Motueka United U18 came from a goal down to beat FC Nelson Goodfellas 3-1 to win the final of the 16th and 17th grade section which drew five teams.
Several of the Motueka players had featured in the club’s winning Division 4 final side in August.
