Sacred Heart loose first game of this season, week before intercol battle with Rostrevor
Sacred Heart suffers an upset loss – its first for this college football season – against St Peter’s a week before the intercol with Rostrevor.
- Late drama as Immanuel and Westminster draw
- SA's top college footy prospects
- St Peter’s digs deep to beat Immanuel
Sacred Heart loses its undefeated tag in college footy after being beaten by a firing St Peter’s, Prince Alfred travels to Victoria and beats Scotch College, Melbourne, while Immanuel holds on to beat St Michael’s.
Here is our wrap of the Messenger Shield’s round nine:
ST PETER’S 13.9 (87) SACRED HEART 9.13 (67)
Sacred Heart heads into this weekend’s college football intercol against Rostrevor after losing its first match of this Messenger Shield season.
Hearts had triumphed in all eight of their clashes so far but went down to St Peter’s 13.9 (87) to 9.13 (67) away last Saturday.
Coach Jon Symonds said his side struggled with making the most of its opportunities against St Peter’s and was simply outclassed on the day.
“St Peter’s were too good for us, it was a good game of footy, though,” Symonds said.
“We certainly had our opportunities, we had the same amount of scoring shots as them.
“But it was a bit of a failure to convert when we needed to.
“But St Peter’s I thought were just too good for us.
“They were really strong around the footy and in the end we didn’t do a good enough job with getting the ball back to them when they had possession.
“We are pretty disappointed, obviously it was an important game for us as it was the only side in the competition we hadn’t played yet.”
Lachlan Stoddard (three majors), Cooper van Dorn and Henry McAuliffe (two goals apiece) were strong up-forward for Hearts.
Symonds also described Jackson Chalmers, younger brother of Olympic gold medallist Kyle Chalmers, as having his “best game this season”.
Symonds expected his players’ to regroup quickly ahead of the college’s 97th annual intercol against Rostrevor at home this Saturday.
“We just have to get back out on the track and get our tails up pretty quickly,” Symonds said.
“The fact that it’s an intercol game, there’s no lack of motivation from our guys once we get closer to next Saturday.
“It will be a terrific contest with two pretty even sides, given we had a close, 10-point victory over them (Rostrevor) earlier in the year.”
St Peter’s coach Sam Elliott praised his players’ performance.
“They did a great job and kind of just deserve what they get at the moment,” Elliott said.
“Our belief is growing each week as we put some good performances together.
“They are working really hard and we are making a lot of changes along the way and they are adapting incredibly well.
“We have just really worked on our team defence and putting a lot of pressure on the ball carrier and becoming a little bit more hard-nosed.”
Rostrevor, meanwhile, lost to St Peter’s a fortnight ago but was set to enter the intercol against Sacred Heart after a week off due to a bye.
Rostrevor coach Ron Fuller said it will take a full-team effort to beat Sacred Heart.
“We know Sacred Heart is a pretty tough opposition,” Fuller said.
“It promises to be a pretty competitive game and we are hoping we can react positively.
“Intercols are quite emotional, it’s not just the guys playing, it’s the whole school.
“Teammates and classmates gather around and all embrace it so it’s very important.”
SCOTCH MELBOURNE 3.6 (24) PRINCE ALFRED 9.15 (69)
Prince Alfred travelled to Victoria and played Melbourne’s Scotch College team on Saturday.
PAC represented SA with pride, proving way too strong and winning 9.15 (69) to 3.6 (24).
Karl Finlay, Isaiah Dudley, Luke Pedlar and Jamison Murphy starred for Princes.
PAC co-curricular activities director Troy McKinnon said it was a strong performance from the side and he was proud to have triumphed against such a prestigious football college in Victoria.
“It was a good win,” McKinnon said.
“To come over to Melbourne and play a school we weren’t too familiar with and a good football school and then playing our best at the end of the game was pleasing.
“We controlled the ball well in the first half but we couldn’t seem to register enough separation on the scoreboard.
“The fact we were missing shots on goal regularly meant it stayed closer than we would’ve liked but that was a credit to Scotch College because they played really good, contested footy.”
IMMANUEL 8.12 (60) ST MICHAEL’S 5.6 (36)
St Michael’s responded to its 175-point thrashing to Prince Alfred College by pushing Immanuel in their away clash on Saturday.
The visitors were in the game for most of the day but ultimately fell short, going down by 24 points.
Immanuel coach Troy Clements was pleased with the result but said his players needed to get better in front of the big sticks.
Defender Liam Atkins, Jordan Moore and midfielder Tom Jennings were best for Immanuel.
“We had a good win,” Clements said.
“We certainly didn’t play to our full potential.
“We were very inaccurate in front of goal.
“We’ve seemed to have trouble with that all year and it probably kept St Michael’s in the game a bit longer than I would’ve liked.
“If we were accurate in front of goal, we probably could’ve killed them off earlier.
“St Michael’s to their credit were really, really strong at the contest and put up a really strong performance.”
Immanuel plays Prince Alfred at home this Saturday and Clements expects it to be a tough match.
“They (PAC) are certainly starting to really generate a strong, powerful brand of football,” Clements said.
“So I’ll be focusing on accuracy in front of goal with our boys but also just being strong at the contest.”
WESTMINSTER 9.6 (60) PEMBROKE 12.8 (80)
Westminster was unable to capitalise on a strong first quarter and went down to fourth-placed Pembroke by 20 points at home.
The victory helped Pembroke improve its record to 5-3, while Westminster’s dropped to 2-6.
Westminster coach Ian Cox was proud of his side’s effort despite the loss.
“It was a pretty close sort of game but they (Pembroke) controlled the midfield area and played really well,” Cox said.
“Connor Drum had a good game at centre-half back.
“Colby Read, one of our midfielders, played a good game
“I thought our full-back, Eddie Baroudi, did a really good job, too at stemming the flow.”
** Trinity was set to battle Blackfriars on Tuesday, August 6 at home.
