#DontGoQuietly
The University Cougars, Dalby Swans and Highfields Lions have all secured spots in their respective competition Grand-Finals on Saturday 20th September after winning their qualifying finals in Warwick over the weekend.
Cougars ground Bombers
University were the first side locked into Grand-Final day, with the Cougars roaring past the South Toowoomba Bombers in the Under 12 McDonald's Shield qualifying final at Reddies Oval. It was a tight arm wrestle in the opening stanza with both sides impacting the score board with the same amount of shots. However, it was the Cougars that made the most booting two majors to the Bombers one.
The Cougars ramped up their attack from half-back; going with a strong breeze they made the most of their opportunity.
University kept the Bombers scoreless in the second stanza as the Cougars piled on three unanswered goals through Callum Banim and the Makauch brothers (Akol and Deng) to extend their lead from 5 points at the first break to 30-points at the long changeover.
Both sides registered a goal each in a physical third-quarter.
The Cougars ran riot in the last term with 7 scoring shots to nil, however University were quite erratic only managing 1 major from the 7 shots on goal. University finished as 42-point victors and will watch this weekend's Preliminary Final between the Bombers and Highfields with great interest.
UNIVERSITY
Goal Kickers: C. Banim 3, A. Makuach 2, J. Watts , D. Makuach
Best Players: , D. Makuach , C. Banim , L. Carmody , B. Speed
SOUTH TOOWOOMBA
Goal Kickers: B. Nugent , J. Montgomery
Best Players: , J. Montgomery , M. Anderson , M. Woodall , O. Debney
Swans tame Lions
Dalby flexed their muscles in the McDonald's Trophy under 14 qualifying final against Toowoomba. The Swannies were a well-drilled unit that were too slick on the day for the Tigers.
An 8-goal to zero opening term set up the victory, with the impressive Swans showing their team orientated game plan. The Swans had 12 individual goal-kickers with Henry Burt and Tom Matthews kicking game high, 3 goals each. For the Tigers, goal-kicking machine Aiden Edwards added to his regular season tally of 50 with 2 majors to take his season tally to 52, a career personal best for the young man.
For the Tigers Jacob Martens was fantastic and judged as the yellow and blacks best player from defence. The classy left-footer was superb all day.
Callan Wilson along with Edwards and Harry Barnsley were the others that stood out most in the 110-point loss. For Dalby, Burt and Matthews were the two best a-field and the players that impacted the contest the most in the opening half.
Midfielder Tyler Peltz and ruckman Cameron Ferguson also played solid games and look primed for their shot at the 2014 flag.
DALBY
Goal Kickers: H. Burt 3, T. Matthews 3, J. McKee 2, C. Ferguson 2, J. Short , T. Peltz , T. Callaghan , B. Horsburgh , S. Laffy , J. Hegedus , P. Sankey , D. Gillespie
Best Players: , H. Burt , T. Matthews , T. Peltz , C. Ferguson
TOOWOOMBA
Goal Kickers: A. Edwards 2
Best Players: , J. Martens , C. Wilson , A. Edwards , H. Barnsley
Clark boots 5 to guide Lions to decider
Highfields Lions took their winning streak to 5 straight games, as the McDonald's Cup minor premiers fought out a tough contest against a dogged Coolaroo.
It took only 36 seconds for the Lions to register the first goal of the day, stunning the Roos in impressive style.
However the remainder of the opening quarter was a tight physical contest with neither side able to break the shackles, with stoppage after stoppage. The navy Roos were going into the strong southerly blowing across Reddies Oval and were limited to a short game.
Highfields made the most of the strong wind, with Tim Goddard and Finn Collison goaling to take a 19-point lead into the first break.
In a very low-scoring second quarter each side was only able to register the one major each, with Tom Clark chalking up his second for the day and lively forward Mitchell Heuston kicking a long range bomb to lift the Roos just before half-time.
The Lions lead was decreased to 17-points at the long-change.
It was another tough quarter for the Roos with the strong southerly picking up in intensity with the Lions booting 4 majors to 1 for the term. Highfields players Jacob Sheath and Jake Carroll kicked one each, while Clark bagged a double.
For the Roos, their number 1 goal-kicker James Sprason kicked his first for the afternoon.
Down by 40-points going into the final quarter, the Roos needed to lift. However, it was the Lions that struck not one but three blows in succession to all but put the result with in doubt.
Clark kicked his fifth for the qualifying final, with Goddard getting his second for the day and one of the Lions best for the afternoon Josh Adams registering a goal. Up by 59-points no-one would blame the Lions for taking it easy for the final 8 minutes of the match.
However, the Roos noticed a slight lapse and that is all they needed.
Coolaroo kicked 3 quick goals through Thomas Claydon and James Sprason added two more to his tally but the damage was already done and the Highfields Lions ran out 11.8 (74) to 5.6 (36) victors to book their spot in the 2014 Under 16 Grand-Final.
Samuel Stahlhut was the Lions best with the star midfielder winning numerous contested possessions that set his side up early in the game. Josh Adams along with Thomas Clark and half-back flanker William Grundon were also standout Lions.
For the Roos, silky left-footer Ben Southey was judged their best with captain Sprason, Kale Ross and Dan Long also having good games for the defeated Roos.
HIGHFIELDS
Goal Kickers: T. Clark 5, T. Goddard 2, F. Collison , J. Carroll , J. Sheath , J. Adams
Best Players: , S. Stahlhut , J. Adams , T. Clark , W. Grundon
COOLAROO
Goal Kickers: J. Sprason 3, M. Heuston , T. Claydon
Best Players: , B. Southey , J. Sprason , K. Ross , D. Long
Last Modified on 15/09/2014 08:42
