The Blues notched their first win of the Loddon Valley league season by toppling reigning Calivil United by five points in a thriller at Inglewood.

In a memorable day for the club, which won all three grades of football, the victory ended a string of 31 senior losses in a row against Calivil United for the Blues as they toppled the Demons for the first time since 2002 with their 14.14 (98) to 14.9 (93) upset victory.

It was a super response by the Blues to their 155-point hammering from Bridgewater the previous week.

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“There had obviously been that hoodoo hanging over the club with Calivil, but when you’ve got such a new side there isn’t that baggage that comes with it,” Blues coach Ryan McNish said.

“The players knew their ability, I knew what they were capable of and we just went out and played our game… we didn’t worry about Calivil and what they’ve done in the past, it was all about us and what we want to do going forward.”

The Blues burst out to a 29-point advantage at quarter-time as they led 6.7 to 2.2 at the break break.

Inglewood’s tally of 43 was the Blues’ highest scoring first term since they went to quarter-time with 45 on the board against Bears Lagoon-Serpentine in round 17 of the 2010 season.

However, after Inglewood’s flying start the game came down to the wire with the Demons leading late, before Blues’ recruit Liam Drummond snared the match-winning goal, while he was also his side’s best player.

“He was great for us today on a wing. He has come out of the Eaglehawk under-18s and I gave him the role on Brock Rogers and he proved today he’s going to be a quality senior player for us,” McNish said.

Peter McKay off half-back, Sam Barnes (four goals) and ball magnet Bailey Evans were also Blues’ standouts.

The defeat leaves the Demons 1-2 ahead of the grand final re-match against Bridgewater next week.

Nathan Ryan, consistent skipper Chris Down in the ruck and Vincent Rodi (three goals) were the best for the Demons, who had Matt Magee as their leading goalkicker with four.

With Inglewood’s last win over Calivil United before Saturday having been July 20, 2002, the Blues had gone 5761 days between victories against the Demons.

Maiden Gully YCW retained top spot on the ladder and its unblemished record in what’s now the Eagles’ best start to a season since 1999.

The Eagles inflicted Mitiamo’s first defeat of the season with a 23-point victory, 13.6 (84) to 8.13 (61).

The victory ended a string of nine losses in a row for the Eagles against Mitiamo as they beat the Superoos for the first time since 2013.

Mitiamo held a two-point buffer at three quarter-time, but the visiting Eagles finished the game strongly with 5.2 to 1.1 in the final term to secure victory.

“There were still stages today where not under a lot of pressure we turned the ball over, but Mitiamo returned the favour a bit to us as well,” said Eagles coach Wayne Mitrovic, who kicked four goals.

“Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, Mitiamo was a bit undermanned today with their Queensland players not playing and it was a bit of a scrap, but we were relentless with our running and were able to run over the top of them.”

As well as the Eagles running the game out strongly, the Superoos were made to pay for their poor conversion, with Mitiamo being beaten, despite having 21 scoring shots to the Eagles’ 19.

Tori Ferguson, who impressed Mitrovic with his attack on the contest, the tenacious Sean Moyle and veteran Steve Turner in defence led the better players for the Eagles.

The Superoos were best served by Nathan Twigg, Max Simpson and Terry Reeves. Dylan Clohesy was their leading goalkicker with three.

For the third time in as many games to start the season Pyramid Hill emerged victorious in a tight contest, this time against Marong.

In their annual Michael Herrick Memorial Game, the Bulldogs defeated the Panthers 12.12 (84) to 11.9 (75) at Marong.

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The improved Bulldogs are now 3-0, with two of their victories by nine points and one by one point.

Pyramid Hill co-coach Brad Fawcett described it as a gallant victory considering the Bulldogs suffered injury concerns during the second quarter to Billy Micevski (eye), Nathan Fitzpatrick (foot), Taylor Smart (knee) and Brad Driscoll (head knock).

“We spoke at half-time and three quarter-time about being down a few rotations and that we all had to roll up our sleeves and do a bit more and we were able to hang on,” Fawcett said.

“Marong had a lot of momentum in the last quarter, but we were able to force a lot of stoppages and play with some composure.”

Andrew Dobby in defence, classy co-coach Gavin James all over the ground and Tom Sala played well for the Bulldogs, who had Fitzpatrick finish the game with four goals.

It was another competitive showing from the Panthers, but they still have no points to show for their efforts as they slipped to 0-3.

Lachlan Frankel kicked four of their 11 goals to be one of his side’s better players, along with Bret Quin and Josh Griffin. 

A strong first quarter set up Newbridge’s 18-point triumph over Bears Lagoon-Serpentine.

Coming off a round one loss to Pyramid Hill then the bye, the Maroons raced to a 34-point advantage at quarter-time on the way to a 13.18 (96) to 11.12 (78) victory at Serpentine for their first win of the season.

“Having had the week off, the boys were really hungry to get back on the park again and it was a really solid win,” Maroons coach Brad Comer said.

“The boys gelled well and there were some positive signs for us today.”

The Maroons were missing two of their key pillars in attack in Rhys Ford (holidays) and Sam Mildren (ribs), as well as ruckman Connor Toohey.

Tyler Romeril and Jayden Prior, who shared the ruck duties, figured among the best for the Maroons, while Jordan Gilboy made the most of some extended time inside 50 with three goals.

The Bears are now 0-3, having had to play catch-up football in all three losses.

“The guys effort after quarter-time was great, but we just can’t keep giving sides starts and expect to win games,” Bears coach Greg Gadsden said.

Ben McKinley across half-forward, Harry Gadsden through the midfield and Andrew Gladman (four goals) played well for the Bears, who have a chance to regroup with the bye.