Endeavour Sports High School have fallen agonisingly short of lifting the Bill Turner Cup, going down 2-1 in the final to Ipswich Grammar School on Wednesday.
Endeavour were out to bring the prestigious cup back to the shire after reaching the national finals of the competition at Lake Macquarie's Regional Football Centre.
It was the third time the shire school had appeared in the national finals series. Endeavour finished equal third alongside Brisbane's Cavendish Road in the 1998 competition and also tasted success in 2009 when they downed ACT's Daramalan College 7-2 in the third place play-off.
Endeavour needed golden-goal extra-time to knock out Penleigh Essendon Grammar 2-1 in their quarter-final last month to advance to the national stage.
They met Westfields Sports High School in the semi-final on Tuesday, with Endeavour downing the perennial heavyweights 2-1 thanks to goals from Brae Ovens and Domenic Konjarski.
Ipswich Grammar thrashed Hunter Sports High School 4-0 in the other semi-final to set up Wednesday's decider.
Brohden Souris scored for Endeavour in the final, but a strike from player of the final Patrick Smith and an own goal gave Ipswich a 2-1 victory and the cup.
There were a pair of individual accolades for Endeavour though, with Ovens named player of the series while Hayden Matthews was acknowledged with the Spirit of Football award.
Westfields won the girls' Bill Turner Trophy, downing Hunter Sports 3-0.
