Maitland coach Mick Bolch praised the character of his side after they scored in the 93rd minute to beat the Jets Youth 3-2 on Sunday and ice the club's first-ever top-division premiership.
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Andrew Swan climbed to head in a corner kick for the win, which took the Magpies to 43 points, five clear of Jaffas, Edgeworth and Magic. Maitland now take on Magic in the semi-finals.
Entering the final NNSW NPL round, Edgeworth (38) were the only side who could catch Maitland, but they lost to Jaffas 3-0 on Sunday.
The Magpies made a horror start when Sam Donnellan scored for the visitors in the first 45 seconds. Maitland equalised in the 23rd minute through a Nick Cowburn strike. Captain Carl Thornton knocked in a Cowburn corner for 2-1 in the 55th, but the Jets levelled through a clever finish from Riley Smith in the 70th.
Maitland were safe even if the Jets won, but Bolch said they were keen to cap their premiership with a victory.
"We knew the Edgy score but we wanted to win it by winning the game, not by slip ups," Bolch said. "We threw everyone forward at the end trying to get that winner, so it was fitting that we won it in the last five minutes. That's about five times we've done that this year.
"It shows a bit of character ... and it's a really close group. They just keep working hard for each other."
He said the win was emotional for Magpies stalwarts, who helped the club rise from 12 years of second-division to promotion for 2015.
"There are guys who have driving up the hill for 50 years," he said.
"There's guys like Paul Osland and Mick Mirisch, Reece Thompson - you could see what it meant to everyone when we were singing the song on the field afterwards."
"It was good to have the presentation on the field afterwards as well.
"To win the comp by five points, it's a decent margin.
"There wasn't a lot of change to the group, which I think helped us this year. Only Tommy Davies and Joel Wood came in, and obviously Cowby came in the last few weeks.
"But I couldn't have asked for anymore. They've all done really well.
"It all focuses on the semi-finals next week now, but I'm sure the boys will be up for it."
