Round two in North Central Footy seen the Wycheproof-Narraport Demons kick four goals in time-on to defeat the reigning premiers in St Arnaud by just three points in the closest game of the round. Donald spoilt the party at Sea lake in front of a huge crowd when they easily defeated the Tigers and now the Royal Blues go to the top of the ladder. Charlton accounted for Birchip-Watchem at Charlton Park with a thirty one point win to maintain their winning form and in the final game of the round the North Centrals first ever night game seen Boort, who went through last season without a win, the magpies finally got to sing their song when they defeated the Wedderburn Redbacks by four goals in front of a large crowd.
Wycheproof-Narraport v St Arnaud
St Arnaud coming of a defeat in round one opened up in the first quarter against the Demons and looked set to kick a large score as they scored the first seven goals of the game before the Demons could trouble the scorers. McNamee and Nick Coghlan were both on fire and produced the bulk of their side’s major scores. Late in the term the Demons broke through to register their first goal of the game and it did not take them long to repeat their effort to bring up their second for the quarter but the Saints who were accurate in their kicking for goal posted two further goals to bring their tally to nine for the term and on siren time the Demons registered their third of the day. In this term there was not a point scored with both sides kicking accurately and at the first break the Saints held a thirty six point lead and had set a solid base for the remainder of the game.
Not to be outdone the Wycheproof-Narraport Demons struck back to bridge the gap between them and the Saints and with some handy work from Corey Jones and James Coatsworth they chipped away and got themselves back into the game to only trail by seven points at the half time break. This game had a bit of everything and kept the large crowd entertained where every player on the ground was doing their bit for their respective sides. Nick Coughlan, Caleb Bloomer and Lachlan Cohen were standout players for the saints who could only manage two goals for the quarter and for the Demons who kicked seven majors in a solid comeback were best served in the first half by George Turner, Boe Bish and Tim Holobowski.
In the third term the Demons left nothing in the shed and continued their good form from the previous quarter as they took the lead as they outscored the Saints thirteen goals to five from the end of the first quarter. The Demons were sharing the goals around with Pappin, Holobowski joining with Jones and Coatsworth to build their lead to fourteen points by the end of the premiership quarter. St Arnaud managed three goals for the term to the Demons six in what was a very solid contest with plenty of one on one contests and contested ball being a spectacle of the game. With just over two goals separating the two sides with a quarter to go the game the game was set for a huge final term with the game and four points well in the sights of both sides, but the Saints who had handed back their thirty six point lead from the opening term would need to lift if they were to take out the game.
With the stage set for a big last quarter neither side showed any sign of putting up the white flag as the contest developed into an arm wrestle with the Saints producing the better football in the last term to again take the lead of the Demons who were finding scoring hard to come by as the Saints defence led by Sam Dyke proved hard to get through. Heading into the final stages of the game the Saints who kicked six last quarter goals had turned a fourteen point deficit into a twenty two point lead with only time on to play looked set to register their first win. As has been the case in past years with the Demons they never say die and this was the case in this match. A fifty meter penalty proved costly for the Saints as the resulting goal seemed to fire the Demons up and they produced a further three goals in red time to put their noses in from to take out the game by three points just as the Hawks did over the Eagle on Friday night. Overall regardless of the result which the Demons will gladly take this was a game that will stick in the minds of those in attendance as one of the great games where forty goals were kicked and a great display from both sides in the closest result in this week’s round. George Turner, Boe Bish and Adrian Pappin featured in the Demons best while Corey Jones with six goals and James Coatsworth with four being the main goal scorers in their three point win. For the Saints better players were Caleb Bloomer, Lachlan Cohen and Nick Coghlan who also finished the day with five goals as did James McNamee.
Final scores Wycheproof-Narraport 20-8= 128 def St Arnaud 20-5=125.
Photo's from the Reserves and Seniors action at Wycheproof will be up on JS Photography over the next couple of days
Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers v Donald
In front of a huge crowd for the Tigers first home game and unfurling of their 2015 Mallee League Premiership flag the tigers didn’t get away to the start they would have liked as the Royal Blues from Donald opened the scoring with full forward Seamus Young getting his side off to a great start. Brodie Haddow followed suit with their second goal before the Tigers through Weekly brought up their first goal for the match. At quarter time the Royals held a commanding twenty nine point lead.
After the first break the Royals carried on with their early form to keep peppering at the big sticks with Seamus Young being the major contributor as brother Ross, Haddow and Fisher constantly kept the ball moving into their attacking zone for positive results. Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers played a better style of football in this term to register three goals but they could not restrict Donald’s scoring and by half time the Tigers fell sixty two points in arrears and thing were not where they were hoping they would be. Young went to half time with five goals and at the other end Weekly at half forward had two goals to half time.
The home sides faired a little better in the third term to take the honours, but this still left them ten goals behind Donald. Donald who are starting to build into a solid combination are getting a good return from the likes of their younger players in Jackson Hogan, Brodie Haddow, Darcy Harrison and Sam Dunstan standing tall and making a big contribution towards their teams success and they will only get better as the season continues. Sea Lake through Matt Elliott, BIlly McInnes and Luke Martin were solid for the Tigers.
In the last quarter the Tigers main aim was to keep the margin to a respectable one, but Donald pressed on to increase their lead to a healthy ninety plus points to give them a good percentage booster as they kicked six majors in the final term and restricted the home side to just one goal.
Sea Lake will take a lot out of the game against Donald who even at this early stage, many predict they will feature heavily into the race for the Halfhide Cup. Better players for the Royals, Ross Young, Brodie Haddow, Jackson Hogan, Seamus Young, Sam Dunstan and Darcy Harrison. Seamus Young was their major goal scorer with six with Hogan and Haddow kicking three. For the Tigers their best was Billy McInnes and gained good support from Luke Martin, Matt Elliott, Simon Weekly and Jason Collins. The Tigers Simon Weekly was their top goal scorer with four.
Final scores Donald 20-16=136 def Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers 6-5=41
Charlton v Birchip-Watchem
Birchip-Watchem coming off their win over the Tigers last week came out of the blocks fairly quick and kept attacking the goals for minor returns and at the other end the Navies were also having trouble in the accuracy department. Between them only one goal was scored for the first quarter with that going to the Bulls who took a nine point lead to the first break.
Both sides were able to get some major scores going in this term where the ball was keenly contested. Charlton got their first major when Gunn snapped truly. Nicholson and Sirett were having a good duel in the ruck contests with the honours being shared. Carland was solid and leading by example for the Bulls and his counterpart in the Navies Coach, Arron Walklate also leading from the front and gathering his fair share of the Sherrin for the Navies. At the main break the Bulls held a three goal lead with Hallam and Wilson being their main contributors and for the Bulls Gunn had recorded two goals and Clifford the other goal scorer.
After the long break Charlton found their feet and kept moving the ball into their attacking zone and were getting a good return for their efforts adding five goals to the Bulls one for the quarter and this gave them an eight point lead heading to the final change mainly due to the bulk of their players lifting their workload and going more direct. The Bulls found the Navies backline solid and hard to breakthrough resulting in their low return on the scoreboard.
With only a narrow lead to the Charlton side the Bulls gave themselves a good chance to give it a good shot at recording their second win but the navy blues were not having any part of that as they dominated the final quarter. Charlton as they had in the previous term posted five goals and made scoring hard at the other end for the Bulls. The Navy Blues would run our good winners getting home by thirty one points to remain undefeated. Tom Nicholson was named as their best, Daniel Thiesz, Aaron Walklate, Cody Gunn, Luke Kyriakides and Kris Clifford as featured in the better players list. For the Bulls Daniel Ratcliffe was their best player, Coach Tom Carland, Lachlan Sirett, Michael Monteith, Callan Atkinson and Charlie Hallam also rated mentions for their effort.
Cody Gunn was the Navies highest goal scorer with Wilson and Hallam kicking three each for the Bulls.
Final score Charlton 13-16=94 defeated Birchip-Watchem 8-15=63
Check out Hadyn's photo's from the Navies v Bulls HERE
Boort v Wedderburn
Under lights at Boort Park the Boort Magpies played host the Wedderburn Redbacks for the first official game under lights in the North Central Football League and the both sides had brought along their full supporter groups to witness the occasion.
After a couple of attempts at goal by both sides the Redbacks were the first to kick a major score with Ben DeAraugo getting the Redbacks away. The game was fairly scrappy and there were plenty of unforced errors coming from both sides. Wedderburn through Coach Danny Benaim posted their second goal to give the Redbacks a slight edge over the Magpies. Just on siren time Aaron Wilson to a mark forty metres out from goal and brought up the magpies first goal to cut the Redbacks lead to just one goal a quarter time.
In this quarter scoring for both sides was hard to come by as both sides pushed their bodies to the limit to restrict the opposition’s forward moves and there were some heavy clashes as the contested ball heated up with both side’s players showing a strong commitment. Wedderburn added two goals as did the Magpies in the second term to retain the one goal buffer they had at the first change. Aaron Wilson was Boort’s only goal scorer to half time with three goals from full forward. Orr and Hargreaves were having a good contest in the ruck but Orr was giving a little more to his side around the ground and he looks like he will be a great asset to the Magpies, Jack Smith and Sam Taylor were also prominent for the magpies to the main break. The Redbacks were being well served by Gash, Tonkin and Weston.
In the second half of the game Boort was able to get on top of the Redbacks as they added six goals to Wedderburn’s two goals. Jarrod Fitzpatrick had a big second half to be named as the Magpies best with James Orr, Jack Smith, Jack baker, Harry Weaver and Aaron Wilson who was their major goal scorer with five goals being named as better players. For the Redbacks Small forward Cam Weston was their best with Daniel Gash, Robbie Tonkin, Jacob De Araugo, Adam Postle and Jake Hernan featuring in the best performers.
Final score Boort 9-13=67 def Wedderburn 6-7=43.
A handful of photo's from this game will be up on JS Photography over the next few days
Next week
Birchip-Watchem v Wycheproof-Narraport
St Arnaud v Boort
Wedderburn v Donald
Charlton v Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers
Last Modified on 25/04/2016 12:46