Frankly there was little difference between NBHS and PNBHS as they battled to the final whistle.
The Marty Akers-coached NBHS had stung their rivals from the other side of the gorge with a goal to striker Jorge Akers in just 46 seconds after he latched on to PNBHS goalkeeper Liam Outtram's parry off a wormburner from industrious right winger Luis Toomey.
From there on NBHS found "Big Mo" in their corner, mounting waves of attacks.
However, the Stephen Dawson-coached Palmy were reduced to playing catch-up footy and were often guilty of taking one too many touches when a simple touch, pass and move would have done them more good as well as conserved energy in the 70-minute affair.
Palmy's Kaykay Adeyinka found the net in the 35th minute but the referee deemed the striker to have fouled in the tussle with the defender in gaining possession.
Akers had a chance to seal Palmy's fate in the 44th minute but Outtram was equal to the occasion as the NBHS striker lost poise in finishing the parried ball.
Adeyinka, Akers and Kernow Phillips, of New Plymouth BHS, have scored four goals each while Alex Elliot, of Tauranga Boys' College, is leading the golden boot race with six.
Coach Akers said Palmy threw the kitchen sink at them but his youngsters absorbed it.
"I think when we did have the ball we gave it away a little too much today but, when we got the opportunities, we put the ball away although we don't get too many," he said, lamenting his troops conceding two goals to HBHS in the morning to lose their unblemished record.
Akers said that was the best game he saw HBHS play but said that was a given in derby games.
He accepted Hamilton BHS would be out to avenge their defeat on day one after playing with 10 men when their captain, John Clout, was sent off in the 21st minute.
Dawson, whose side play Tauranga in a 9am kick off today after losing 2-0 to them in the morning, felt their loss to NBHS was "scrappy on a difficult pitch".
Adam Davidson and Elliot scored for Tauranga.
"I think we had two good chances - one that hit the post and one we should have scored but the one Napier scored was a gift from us so we've got to be very disappointed but sometimes in sport things don't go your way."
Dawson said it was imperative to switch on from the opening whistle, something his Sam Jones-captained side hadn't done in the loss to Tauranga in the morning.
"We gave a goal away in about seven or eight seconds with another silly mistake against Tauranga so, yes, we're disappointed but, I think, we've given a good account of ourselves and we've just not had the rub of the green, particularly in that game, because it could have gone either way."
Dawson said they were looking forward to giving Tauranga another crack this morning after not doing justice to their earlier clash.
"Credit to Napier and I hope they go all the way to win it but our game could've gone either way and we could have easily been in the final," he said although he suspected Hamilton BHS would be favourites but he didn't think there was much difference in the top four sides.
Responding to coach Grant Hastings for some passion, a win-less and goalless HBHS set the pool B game alight despite NBHS hogging possession.
That spark came from Samoa age-group international striker Niko Nanumea but the victors struck back twice to lead 2-1.
Nanumea then equalised 2-2 off a rebound to send Hastings and Akers to their clipboards at halftime.
NBHS broke the deadlock but emotions boiled over with Nanumea picking up a red card for treading on his opponent while NBHS skipper Campbell Hantler got his marching orders for retaliating.
Without suspended Clout, Hamilton BHS trounced New Plymouth BHS 5-0 after leading 3-0 at halftime.
NPBHS goalkeeper Will Hart prevented an absolute flogging even though he couldn't keep out Kyle Kirsten, Levi Clarke, Alex Frank (2) and Matthew Shaw.
In a game of bottom-four crossover sides, Gisborne BHS beat Rotorua BHS 2-0 with Andrew Brott finding the net in the first half and and captain Riaki Ruru in the second.
All players picking up cards have been cleared to compete in seeding matches today.
In other 9am kick offs today: 7-8 HBHS v Rotorua BHS (Akina Park 1), 5-6 New Plymouth BHS v Gisborne BHS (Akina Park 2), 3-4 Palmerston North BHS v Tauranga BC (HBHS 2).
