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Aztecs Tournament, 4th September 2005
 The 2005 Aztecs Tournament took place on a bright and sunny Sunday 4th September at Wellington College Sports Club, Crowthorne. 13 teams arrived bright and bushy tailed, and positively bursting with pre-season enthusiasm.
In the Ladies league section, Shooters played with confidence, and won all 4 of their games - although only just scraping through by 1 point against a vastly improved Aztec Belles team. Hustlers performed strongly despite their inexperience, recording 2 good wins, but the most striking performance came from Witney Comets, who - in a neat reversal of last year's outcome - turned the tables on Shooters in the Final, and came away with the Cuauhtli* Shield by just 1 point.
In the Men's Group 1, Whitley Wizzards were outgunned by the bigger teams but never gave up and put in some good passages of play, particularly in the first half against Windsor Warriors. The Warriors themselves also produced some bright flashes, including the 2nd highest score of the day. However, the heavyweight contest of the group between Loddon Valley and Woodley was decisively won by the latter. In Group 2, Basingstoke were heavily outgunned by the Aztec Jaguars, but played admirably in the first half against a much bigger Windmills team, finishing only 3 points adrift. The Heat were outweighed although not outrun by the 2 heavyweights of the group, and picked up a creditable win against Basingstoke. Jaguars showed the value of their more disciplined style with hardly a turnover as they won decisively against the international visitors, Windmills. The latter 2 teams reached the semis to slug it out with Loddon Valley and Woodley respectively.
2 semi-final classics ensued: despite clinging on grimly, the Jaguars surrendered a 4 point lead in the final minute to face a free-throw shoot-out with Loddon Valley. Both teams showed signs of nerves, and it took 6 rounds of sudden death throws before Loddon Valley triumphed. Nerves were also evident in the other semi, as Woodley, 23-10 ahead at half time, froze in the second half to give Windmills a glimpse of glory. A run of 13 unanswered points levelled the game, and Windmills entered the last play of the game defending a 1 point lead: but with seconds to play committed the cardinal error of fouling the 3 point shooter. It looked all over as Woodley stepped up to the free-throw line with 4 seconds on the clock, but - incredibly - three times the ball refused to drop, and Windmills took the vital rebound to move into the final.
The final itself was evenly balanced at half time, but straight from the restart, Windmills pushed ahead, and the story for most of the second half was of Loddon Valley trying to outflank the Windmills rearguard action. In the end, Loddon Valley's last ditch 8 point push wasn't quite enough, and Windmills had won an absorbing contest by just 3 points.
Click here to see the full tournament results.
Click here to see the photo montage.
The 2005 champions are:
The Cuauhtli Shield for Ladies- Witney Comets
The Cuauhtli Trophy for Men - Windmills
From the Aztec Calendar - "Cuauhtli, Eagle-A good day for action"
The 13-day period Cuauhtli (Eagle) is ruled by Xochiquetzal. This trecena signifies a time of inspired play: regardless of the sport, this is the time of mastery. All of one's practice and preparation culminates now in an unparalleled conjunction of luck, skill and timing
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Above: the triumphant Witney Comets
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Above: Windmills show their trophy
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Aztecs Tournament, September 2004
For the full results go to the Fixtures & Results Page
Seven mens teams and five Ladies teams gathered at Wellington College to contest the inaugural Aztecs Invitation tournament on Saturday 4th September, 2004.
After sweeping all before them in the round robin section, Witney Ladies appeared to fade in the final and Camberley Ladies triumphed.
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