St Patrick’s College 1stXVIII played their second game of the season against a very strong St Bede’s College Mentone team on Wednesday, 7 May. The game was played in difficult slippery and windy conditions on the beautiful St Patrick’s College Main Oval. Conditions made scoring difficult and for three-and-a-half quarters neither team had more than a 10-point lead. The Paddy boys were relentless with their effort and commitment to the contest and eventually overcame St Bede’s to win by 16 points.
First quarter
Fraser Molan was given the Captaincy for the game and lost the toss which meant we were kicking into a 2-3 goal breeze. St Bede’s won the first centre bounce clearance and kicked a goal from the forward 50 entry in what was the worst way possible to kick off the main part of our season. To our credit the Paddy boys immediately gained ascendency around the stoppages and kept peppering the 50 to keep the ball in our forward half. Unfortunately, we missed a number of opportunities to kick goals as we kicked three behinds and two kicks out of bounds on the full. Towards the end of the quarter, St Bede’s was able to take the ball forward to score the second goal of the game. This frustrated the coaching group as we had completely controlled the territory game without being able to capitalise with a major. Right on the siren impressive debutant Levi Munyard kicked the ball deep inside 50, where clever small forward Kai Watkins got out the back to finish truly.
Second quarter
The second quarter started positively with multiple forward 50 re-entries finally ending with a contested mark and goal by Cooper Glenwright who was impressive in his first school game of the year. Later in the quarter, Cooper would impact again after marking on the lead after a beautiful pass from Armi Wakefield. He would finish beautifully from a tight angle. The remainder of the quarter was a slog, with SPC getting punished for a scuffle which resulted in a 50m penalty and goal to St Bede’s. St Pat’s would go to the half time break with a four-point lead.
Third quarter
This quarter saw us come out and try and defend our lead against the stiff breeze. Conditions dried out a little and the opening minutes saw us control the stoppages and go forward on numerous occasions without hitting the scoreboard. Another stoppage win at half back set off a chain of six handballs which looked amazing. Impressive Year 11 student Archie Elliott was on the end of the chain and his kick inside 50 found Cooper Glenwright who quickly identified another impressive Year 11 student Angus Morgan who kicked a goal from the goal line. SPC were able to milk the clock a little and maintain possession while trying to mitigate the influence of the breeze. We gave up one goal towards the end of the quarter to go to the three-quarter time break with a four-point lead.
Final quarter
We started poorly and lost the first centre bounce which resulted in a goal to St Bede’s. But this would be the last time that they would lead in this game with the Paddy boys finishing all over St Bede’s. Goal number one came from a brilliant piece of play from Archie Elliot who slotted one through under extreme pressure. Goal number two came from Kai Watkins who outworked his opponent to run onto a deep kick inside 50. Goal number three came from impressive debutant Levi Munyard and goal number four – in the last minute of the game – came from Harvey Lewis who worked tirelessly for the entire game as a small forward and snapped truly. This gives us a 2-0 start to the season with a huge game against the powerful Parade College set for next Wednesday on the hallowed turf at SPC.
Goal Kickers: Cooper Glenwright 2, Kai Watkins 2, Angus Morgan 1, Harvey Lewis 1, Archie Elliot 1, Levi Munyard 1.
Best Players: Archie Elliot, Tessie Liem, Ethan Drever, Cooper Glenwright, Fraser Molan, Levi Munyard, Kai Watkins.
– By Jason Lappin, 1st XVIII coach
