Top four continue winning ways in Premier C Men’s

Hugh Maclean

Premier C Men’s rolled into round 15, with the top four teams collecting wins on what was difficult conditions for footy.

For the second week running the equal-top Hampton Rovers made things difficult for themselves with their profligacy in front of goal, but had a relatively comfortable win regardless.  The first half was competitive – Ormond battled well to keep the Rovers to four goals whilst kicking three themselves.  It was after half time that Hampton dominated, but they only managed to put a paltry 2.13 on the scoreboard in the difficult conditions.  Thankfully for them their defence was strong enough to hold Ormond to 2.2 in reply, and this allowed Hampton Rovers a 19-point victory, but they will want to be fixing their finishing with the big matches little more than a month away.  James Keys and spearhead Ben Marron kicked two goals each for Hampton, with Max van der Straaten their best.  Ormond had five individual goal kickers, with the consistent Dae Szydlik a strong contributor on the day.

Mazenod were in complete control of this match after a competitive first quarter in which they kicked the only goal.  Indeed, Marcellin were kept goalless for the whole first half as Mazenod led by 33 points at the main break.  The Eagles came out after half time breathing fire, taking the game right up to the high-flying Mazenod but could not make any indentation on the scoreboard, only kicking one goal from their nine shots for the quarter, but Mazenod were able to steady to win the quarter by a point and lead by 34 at the final change.  Any hope of a Marcellin fourth quarter challenge failed to materialise, and they cleared out to a comfortable 53 point win.  Nick Pascuzzi kicked three goals for Mazenod, for whom Fletcher Ford and Liam Welsford played well.  Marcellin’s best Pat Howe and Matthew Capetola were their goal kickers, with Adam Tomaro also strong for them.

Old Geelong looked like they were going to register the biggest win of the season at half time, kicking 11 goals to Old Ivanhoe’s one to lead by 59 points.  I’m not sure what was in the oranges in the home dressing rooms but they stopped as if shot in the second half, only registering a single score, a goal.  Old Ivanhoe started eating into the deficit, reducing the margin to 43 at three quarter time to give them a glimmer of hope.  They continued winning around the ground in the final quarter but unfortunately the scores didn’t quite come quickly enough, and while the Ivanhoe boys kicked the only four goals of the final term they finished 19 points short.  The key forwards went well, with Chris Hatzis kicking five for Old Geelong and Daniel Stanford responding in kind for Old Ivanhoe.  Bailey Austin and Scott Dixon led the way for Old Geelong, while Jake Bradley and Nick Vacirca were strong for Old Ivanhoe.

For the Parkdale Vultures boys to topple the joint leaders, they needed to make a good start against Monash Blues and continue that throughout the day.  They ticked the first box to a degree, keeping Monash to three points in the first term, but were only able to register 1.5 themselves.  Monash rebounded with four goals to one in the second term to lead by 14 at the half, and kept the pressure on to extend their lead to 25 at the final change.  Parkdale were still in the contest if they started swiftly, but the Blues kept control in the final quarter, kicking 5.7 to a goal to register a relatively comfortable 56 point victory and take top spot on percentage.  Monash had a big winner on the forward line in Nick Darling, who kicked five goals, with Nick Argento also strong.  Parkdale had four single goal kickers, with Lloyd Bailey and Jarrod Peake their best.

Preston Bullants started this match with a ferocious attack on the ball and the man that held it, hoping to take a solid lead to the first break, but Old Mentonians converted all of their early opportunities to lead by two at quarter time.  The Panthers took control in the second quarter to kick 4.6 without reply and lead by 32 at half time, and there was no way back from there.  Whilst the Bullants kept Old Mentonians to two goals in the third stanza to give them some hope, a seven goal to one final term gave Old Mentonians a handy percentage boost and a 73 point win.  Preston had no answer to Tom Morecroft’s six goals, and Angus Grant and Jai Florent were also good for the Panthers.  Conor Howard kicked two of Preston’s four goals, with Luke Sutton and James King their best.