TWO tries in three minutes from William Kennedy has helped keep Newtown stay in the hunt for Canterbury Cup glory, the Jets coming from behind to beat North Sydney 30-28 in Sunday's minor semi-final.
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Having survived an elimination final against Mounties six days earlier, the Jets looked in trouble at Leichhardt Oval as the Bears shot out to a 12-0 lead.
By half-time the Jets had cut the deficit to eight at 20-12, but they still needed to lift to avoid elimination.
Bathurst league talent Kennedy - who plays at fullback for the Jets - gave them that lift.
Eight minutes after the break Kennedy scored and when he made it a double three minutes later, the Jets led for the first time at 24-20.
It paved the way for a tense finish and while the Bears had the chance to send the match into extra-time after Billy Smith crossed in the 75th minute, Drew Hutchison missed the conversion from in front of the sticks.
"We started off slow and we kind of got into the groove with things and played with a bit more shape and played a bit more football which helped us get down the field a little bit better," Jets forward Billy Magoulias told nswrl.com.au
"Then we came home which was good."
Aside from his two tries, Kennedy also made 180 metres for the Jets - 48 of them post-contact - from 11 runs, broke five tackles, had one line break and made three tackles.
The Jets will now meet Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs - the team which beat them in last year's decider - in the preliminary final.
The Bulldogs lost their major semi-final 26-20 to the Wentworthville Magpies.
"I don't know who's going to run out for them, during the year is different because you've got first grade and stuff," Magoulias said.
"We kind of did the same thing last year. We fluffed around too much during the season and then we came home strong. We need to turn it on and when we do turn it on we're a good side."