In what was a very physical contest, there would have been plenty of sore bodies after the game. Throughout the whole game there was never any great margin between these two sides. In the opening term Dillon for Wyche-Narraport was on target and kicked four goals from four shots and at the other end Saints Coach James McNamee, who was reported to be carrying a leg injury into the game didn’t appear to be too restricted by the injury kicked the Saints first three goals and would go on to kick nine majors, to guide the Saints into the prelim final in two weeks’ time.
Demons ruckman Josh White was dominating the centre bounce contests, with Jones and Borthwick gaining many clearances from the big man’s dominance. At the end of the first quarter there would only be three points separating the two sides.
St Arnaud turned on some great football in the second quarter to slam on seven goals to the Demons four. McNamee four goals and Coghlan three were the main instigators for the Saints, who reversed a three point deficit into a ten point lead at the main break. The Demons missed a couple of easy shots in this quarter and if they could have converted the game would have been all locked up at half time.
Alex Lantjin put the Saints on the board in the opening minute of play in the third quarter to extend their lead, this was then followed by two goals to McNamee and it looked like St Arnaud would pull away from the Demons. Keen not to let the Saints lead get any bigger the Demons responded with late goals and by the end of the term were just a kick short of their opposition and we had a game on our hands with one quarter to go.
The arm wrestle continued well into the final quarter where both the Demons and Saints Ruckmen were staging a great battle to give their side the upper hand. St Arnaud drew first blood through Coghlan to give the Saints a twelve point lead. Jones who had done plenty of the hard work for the Demons marked about 20-metres out and made no mistake. St Arnaud pushed the ball into their forward line on many occasions but could only bring up the one flag. George Turner cut the Saints lead back late in the quarter before McNamee brought up his ninth goal for the day. Not to be outdone the Demons Borthwick reduced the margin back to just five points as time ticked away and at the final bell the Demons fell short of continuing their finals campaign by less than a goal, in what was a great entertaining game of North Central Footy. The Saints now have a week’s break to recover from their hard contest against the Demons before they take on either the Redbacks or the Bulls at Donald in the prelim final.
Final Scores; St Arnaud 16-13 = 109 def Wycheproof-Narraport 16-8= 104
Best for St Arnaud: J. Miles, J. McNamee, N. Baldwin, A. Motlop, B. Batters and L. Cunningham. Goals: J. McNamee 9 N. Coglan 4, A. Lantjin 2 and J. James 1.
Best for Wycheproof-Narraport: Josh White, M. Dillon, L. Borthwick, James Coatsworth, C. Jones and K. Prestidge. Goals: M. Dillon 6, G. Turner, C. Jones 3, K. Prestidge, K. McNicol, L. Borthwick and J. Coatsworth 1 each.
Reserves Donald v Boort
Donald defeated Boort in the Reserves 1st semi by 65-points in a game that was a pretty even contest for three quarters before the Royals kicked away in the last quarter to kick seven goals and advance through to the Prelim Final.
Donald’s best: L. Jones, D. Pearce and T. Grant. Goals L. Jones 5, T. Grant 3 S. O’Reilly, N. Wright 2, S. Wood, N. Atkins, B. Dixon 1 each.
Boort’s best: C. Hosking, S. Holland and G. Stringer. Goals M. Perryman5, B.Woodhouse 1.
Under 16’s
St Arnaud 11-7= 73 def Boort 8-7=55
Under 13’s
Donald 5-7=37 def St Arnaud 2-4=16
Next weeks 2nd Semi-Finals at Wycheproof-Narrapport
Seniors 2.30 pm Wedderburn v Birchip-Watchem
Reserves 12. 45 pm St Arnaud v Wycheproof-Narrapport
Under 16’s 11.10am Donald v Birchip-Watchem
Under 13’s 9.45 am Wedderburn v Birchip-Watchem
Last Modified on 03/09/2012 09:47