On Sunday 2nd of September, in one of the greatest games of Junior footy ever played, the Beaumaris FC U17s Div 1 defeated Hightett/ Cheltenham FC U17s Div 1 in a game for the ages.
Final scores:
Beaumaris - 12.3-75 def Highett/Chelt 9.8-62
For many people this game this was a classic game of Australian Football played at a hectic pace, showcasing the great skills of the game.
Club Historian and former President Ron Nicholson called it the best game of football he's seen all year. He went on to say "This game was Australian Rules at its best - attacking, fast moving, high marking, uncongested, play-on footy that delighted the big crowd."
Make no mistake Chelt/Highett were tremendous and at times played compulsive footy. This was a match up of the 2 best teams in the comp and featured a number rep players and TAC players.
The game itself was a tight contest from start to finish. Coach Des Ryan encourages an aggressive game plan based on moving the ball quickly through the corridor. In the 1st Qtr that plan wasn't working, with Highett/Chelt using their gun wingers Jai Florent and Jake Bowery to advantage outside.
But Des stuck to his game plan and used a number of players to negate the H/C wingers. These included Nick Burke, Harry Siemering, Huntar Pace and Jacob Tinker.
Across halfback Tomo Owens, Mathew Scott and Jordan Evans started to come into the game with long penetrating kicks and defensive mid-fielder Lachie Lamble started to exert his contested ball wining skills. .
By half time we had a 2 point adavntage, but H/C came out blasting in the 3rd Qtr, with a mission to mow us down with their speed. At the 5th minute of the 4th Qtr H/C had a 22 point lead.
Step up Riley Virtue and Nat Bazzani who decided to stamp their authority on the game.
Bazz's run along the sidelines has been much talked about and Riley's inspirational tackling also a major talking point. Des also moved Corey Watts back to fullback, where he made a number of crucial intercept marks.
The message was to get the ball in the region of Kyle Yorke up forward.
Suddenly we exploded with 4 quick goals, Riley Mihailovic kicking a beauty under immense pressure.
In the last minute H/C kicked 2 points to square the game up at the Full time hooter.
In the first few minutes of Extra Time, Yorke and Jacquin Mifsud kicked 2 goals from amazing marks. In the end we won by 13 points. Kyle Yorke ended up with 6 goals and won the medal for 'Best on Ground'.
WHAT A GAME!
Post match Coach Ryan dedicated the win to the players application across the whole year - all 38 who played for the team.
Back at the club the players went out onto the middle of Banksia Reserve to sing the Club's victory song - it was a riveting and emotional moment.
Savior the achievement boys - you've been tremendous!
