BATHURST High School leads the 2016 Astley Cup second place play-off, mainly thanks to a nine-goal thrashing of Dubbo College Senior Campus in Wednesday's hockey fixture.
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While Orange High School locked up the title last week, Bathurst High is said to be hell-bent on avoiding the wooden spoon and holds a 260-140 lead in the competition's final tie.
But, not helping Bathurst's bid for second place is the fact Thursday's second day will held in Dubbo.
Bathurst's sporting fields copped so much rain that aside from Carrington Park all the proposed outdoor venues were closed by the Council.
At short notice, Dubbo came to the party and will host day two of the tie which will feature rugby league and boys' and girls' soccer.
It looks likely athletics will be deemed a 50-50 draw as Bardon Park is unavailable.
Like Bathurst's tie against Orange in which the sports were split evenly in terms of wins and losses, Wednesday's fixtures were shared at two each.
The difference came in Bathurst's domination of the tennis and girls' hockey.
An 11 sets to one win in tennis gave them a 91-9 split and the 9-0 hockey score became 10-1 under the scoring system, giving Bathurst a 92-8 share.
Dubbo won netball 62-28 for a 69-31 split and 50-42 win in basketball for a 54-46 share of the points.
Bathurst co-ordinator Paul Abbott said motivation wasn't lacking, even with the Cup out of reach.
"Throughout the history of the Astley Cup the one thing the kids look forward to more than anything else is playing in front of their peers at home," Abbott said.
"It makes for a good atmosphere especially in a place like the Bathurst Indoor Stadium where all the students are crammed into one area.
"With day two of the tie being shifted to Dubbo it has added even more motivation, if the students can win in these circumstances where half the sports are being played away from home ... it would be a tremendous effort.
"That's a huge driving force for these students and so far they're putting in a good showing. The netball was always going to be tough but we kept it close enough and did the same in the basketball."
Abbott was quick to thank the opposition for being able to host an unscheduled day of sport on Thursday.
"We owe them a lot of thanks, they have bent over backwards to help us out and help make this happen from the time we notified them of the situation," he said.
"The one venue we could have used in Bathurst was Carrington Park for the rugby league but it would have been a bit odd making Dubbo come over here for that when we're playing the rest of day two's sports over there."
