St Peters open with four-goal opening term to stun previously unbeaten Prince Alfred College
St Peters has stunned Prince Alfred College to claim the football intercol match for the first time in six years by 21 points on Saturday afternoon.
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St Peters coach Sam Elliott said his side was “really relaxed” all week in the lead up to the stunning 11.6 (72) to 7.9 (51) upset over previously unbeaten Prince Alfred College.
Felix Packer was inspirational for the Blues with six majors, while the class in the midfield of James Higgins and Lachie DeCesare was magnificent.
Elliott said he was over the moon for his players for breaking the drought.
“It’s great and the boys thoroughly deserved everything they got,” he said.
“We had one flat game last week and topped it off well today.
“We were really relaxed all week and I think that was the key, we took it as a great opportunity and a free crack at it.”
It looked like St Peters’ side from the get go, as Packer opened the goalkicking about five minutes into the opening term.
Princes controlled the footy in their half of the ground but were unable to put any scoreboard pressure on, registering three straight behinds.
Packer added a second and DeCesare hit the scoreboard as the Saints led by 20 points at the first break.
Mitch Searle finally broke the duck for Princes, but Packer popped up with his third to steady the flow.
Princes surged through the midfield and slammed on consecutive goals for the first time for the afternoon, with a second from Harry McInnes cutting the deficit to two points.
Princes went into the main change with their tails up and optimistic about the second half, but they were quickly blown away.
Packer, Brad Jefferies, Morgan Ferrer and DeCesare put the pressure and the lead was out to 21 points at three-quarter-time.
Despite a rev up from coach Matt Slade at the final change, Princes couldn’t get near it and resorted to bombing down the line, where the Saints defenders were able to capitalise.
Matthew Roberts was able to put the result beyond doubt following a 50-metre penalty, and it was elation for the Saints, with the supporters behind the goal counting down the final seconds.
James Borlase, Aston Woods and McInnes were admirable for the losing side.
PAC coach Matt Slade admitted he was surprised by the Blues’ workrate.
“To St Peters’ credit they played well, they worked hard and sustained it,” he said.
“I didn’t know they had the ability to sustain it for that long, they did.
“We gave them a bit of space, a lot more than I would’ve liked.
“I said we’d be measured on our start and we certainly were, you can’t give sides those sort of head starts and expect to peg it back.
“I felt we had a second chance at half time, but we didn’t take it.”
Slade added the performance is far from his side’s best.
“Are we better than that? 100 per cent, that is far from our best and they’ll all agree with that,” he said.
“We had a couple of key players out but that wasn’t enough, we had the team to win today, we just couldn’t get things right.”