HUNTLY emerged victorious by two points in a cracking Heathcote District Football League contest against Mount Pleasant at Toolleen on Saturday.
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For the second game in a row, the Blues trailed for much of the match, rallied to hit the front, but couldn’t hold on as the Hawks triumphed 15.14 (104) to 16.6 (102).
The Hawks held the upper hand at half-time when they led by 23 points, 11.6 to 8.1, and were still 20 points clear going into the final term.
But the Blues charged home in the last quarter and hit the lead by six points late in the contest, only to have victory snatched away when Huntly’s Jarrod Alford goaled, which was followed by two more behinds to the Hawks.
“It was a great game of footy that was hard-fought and we’re obviously rapt to come away with the four points,” Huntly coach Jamie Hogan said.
“They came home really hard in the last quarter and hit the front, but it was great to see the guys turn the momentum and find a way to win.
“It was one of those games that could have gone either way and these are the ones that could end up making a big difference towards the end of the year.”
Gun midfielder Ryan Semmel was prominent for the Hawks and was also damaging on the scoreboard, kicking four goals.
Chris Gleeson took his tally of goals for the season to 26, also kicking four.
Braidy Dickens, Ross James and Adrian McErvale were also influential in helping the Hawks rebound from last week’s loss to North Bendigo.
Mount Pleasant is now 1-3, but stiff not to be 3-1 having led both the highly-rated Huntly and Colbinabbin late in games the past two rounds without getting over the line.
“Huntly probably deserved to win the match and would have been stiff to lose,” Blues coach Derrick Filo said.
“We tended to play on moments of really good footy today which gave us an opportunity, rather than consistency.
“We’re showing our good is very good, but we then switch off for long periods, which is something we’ve got to sort out.”
Recruits Chris Muratore through the midfield and forward Nicholas Grigg (seven goals) continued their fine starts to the season for the Blues, who also had better players in Joseph Whiting and Taig Griffin.
The Blues started well, kicking five of the first six goals of the game.
• Leitchville-Gunbower enhanced its early-season credentials with a 42-point victory over Colbinabbin.
The Bombers didn’t give the Grasshoppers a sniff after quarter-time in winning 17.16 (118) to 11.10 (76) at Gunbower and continuing its unbeaten start.
“It was a good result for the boys,” Bombers coach Matt Hawken said.
“We know we’re a good running side, but I was really happy with the hard work we did early when the heat was on and the game was up for grabs.”
The Bombers restricted Colbinabbin to just five goals to three quarter-time, before the Grasshoppers more than doubled their score in the final term when they added six goals, but the damage had been well and truly done.
The Bombers had no shortage of goalkicking options, with 12 players registering majors, led by Matt Perri (three).
Jackson McEwen, the consistent Jye Keath, Steve Pretty and Daniel Meroli were the pick of the players for the Bombers.
Gun midfield recruit Russell Douglas, ruckman Lochlan Sirett and the classy Pat O’Brien battled hard for the Grasshoppers, who had Grant Weeks kick four goals.
• White Hills wasted no time picking up from where it left off the week before in crushing Heathcote by 131 points at home.
The Demons blitzed the Saints 25.18 (168) to 4.13 (37) to square their ledger at 2-2.
Having a week earlier kicked 10 goals in the last quarter against Elmore, the Demons started Saturday with eight goals in the first term to stamp their authority.
The Demons later book-ended the performance with another eight goals in the final quarter.
“The boys did all the right things in the first quarter to set the game up and played the way we’ve been working towards,” Demons coach Shaun Makepeace said.
“Most pleasing today was apart from dropping off for a bit during the second quarter, we were consistent for the rest of the game.”
David Wright across half-back was again outstanding for the Demons.
“He relinquished the captaincy this year and is really enjoying his footy and going well,” Makepeace said.
Matt Lehane in the ruck, Tom Credlin (three goals) and back pocket David Hickman also stood out, while Matt Sawyer outscored Heathcote by himself with a haul of seven goals.
Heathcote - now 0-3 - had Daniel Carroll kick two of its four goals and play well, along with Mitchell McLean and Jakob Sesto.
• Most coaches would be well satisfied with a 74-point win by their side.
But not North Bendigo’s Rob Bennett in the wake of the Bulldogs’ 21.28 (154) to 12.8 (80) victory over Elmore at Superior Roofing Oval.
“We were extremely disappointed with our goalkicking again and upto half-time, they outplayed us in terms of the contest,” Bennett said.
“We’ll take a 74-point win, but there were just some aspects that we were really disappointed with.
“That’s not taking anything away from Elmore. They gave us a bit of a lesson in the first half in terms of contested footy and the way they ran the footy.”
The Bulldogs named Sean Morris (three goals) best for his run-with role on the Bloods’ Anthony Bonaddio.
Brady Herdman (four goals), Alex Shipard, Paul Prime and Aarryn Craig were also among the best, while full-forward Sam Barnes kicked five goals.
Travis Mills (three) and Danny Brewster (four) kicked seven goals between them for the Bloods and were named their two standouts.
While the Bulldogs highly-rated the job of Morris, the Bloods also had Bonaddio in their best players.