LEXTON Plains Football League has had its first inter-league win in nine years.
It overpowered Maryborough Castlemaine District at the High Mountain Eastern Oval in Ballarat _ winning by a massive 99 points.
The RegionalOne LPFL was never troubled in registering the 17.20 (122) to 3.5 (23) victory on Saturday.
The planning and training paid off for coach Wayne Driscoll and his staff.
Driscoll said pre-match all had been done from their end of things, and it was up to the players.
And they did not let Driscoll and the league down.
Right from the opening bounce, Lexton Plains was on its game.
Co-captain and ultimate winner of the VCFL medallion for best-on-ground, Kiernan Molloy, was without doubt the main factor of what proved to be a match-winning first term.
He kicked two goals and had numerous possessions at centre half forward as the LPFL drove the ball into its 50m arc 25 times to MCDFL's nine.
A 37-point quarter time lead was just the start, as the margin was extended at every break.
Leading by 63 points at half time meant the contest was effectively over, with interest only in the end margin, and whether MCDFL could find an avenue to goal.
In hindsight, MCDFL went into the contest with too many tall players.
Not enough ground players proved costly as Lexton Plains won most ground contests.
Maryborough Castlemaine coach Tony Bellenger said at selection his team had about 14 players over 1.88m.
"We cut that number back to about nine, but the result today showed it was still far too many," he said.
LPFL had too many forward targets for MCDFL to counter.
Assistant coach Tim McKay finished with six goals, including a couple of snaps, while Robbie Greenbank kicked three final term majors.
Christian Kelly, James McNamee and Josh Hutchinson shared the MCDFL goals, while big man Mark Oxley battled hard in less than ideal conditions.
Driscoll said his team stuck to the team plan from the first minute to the last minute.
"If (you stick to the plan) and you believe in it you'll get the result," Driscoll said.
"Our team balance showed out with effective ruck roving types, which is what you want in conditions like today."
