After a disappointing opening quarter, Skobbers down visiting Fitzroy to go to 2-0 in Premier B

And in the amateur’s top grade Old Xaverians and De La Salle each tasted defeat. Xavs fell to St Bernard’s while De La was edged by Old Scotch in an entertaining affair.

VAFA Footy: St Kevins v Mazenod. N. Gentile and Henry Parkes

ST Kevins has begun its 2015 Premier B campaign in brilliant fashion after following up its Round 1 win over St Bedes with a 47-point home victory over Fitzroy on Saturday.

The Lions jumped the Skobbers in the opening term and led by 11 points at quarter-time.

But from there Daniel Harford’s men took charge, going on to outscore Fitzroy 13 goals to four after the first change.

“We were really disappointing in the first quarter,” Harford said. “Fitzroy were really aggressive and came out and hunted the footy really well and we took a bit of a back seat, so that was clearly an area we needed to improve upon, but thankfully for the last three quarters we were able to do that.

“We just had to find a way to work through (Fitzroy’s) intensity around the ball and get first hands on it for the second and third quarters and that set the game up, particularly in the third.”

The final margin could have been greater save for inaccurate kicking, but the Skobbers still managed to hit the scoreboard through eight separate goal-kickers – led by a dominant four-goal display from Anthony Lynch.

Harford was impressed with the scoreboard pressure applied by his midfield playmakers.

“One of our strengths is we’ve got enough guys who can go through the middle of the ground and go through the forward half as well and hit the scoreboard,” he said.

“So we’ve got some versatility and that takes some defending for opposition teams.”

Meanwhile up in the top grade, Old Xaverians found itself on the receiving end of a touch up courtesy of a hungry St Bernards outfit at Toorak Park.

Xavs never really got going and couldn’t find their kicking boots in front of the sticks, eventually seeing their 9.13 (67) get doubled by St Bernards 20.14 (134) by the end of the day. Matthew Handley finished with four goals and Patrick Tiernan managed two, but the Xavs backline had no answers for Adam Campbell (five goals) and Alex Boyse (four).

De La Salle’s afternoon at Old Scotch was better but still not good enough to come away with the chocolates, going down by eight points in an entertaining affair.

Down by eight at quarter time, De La came out firing in the second term with eight goals to Scotch’s two and led by 27 points at the main break.

After what was a largely break-even third quarter, De La Salle couldn’t keep hold of the buffer and allowed six Scotch goals in a game that ended with a combined tally 67 scoring shots.

Adrian Indovino finished with four majors for De La while Hugh Nicholson chipped in with three of his own.

In Division 1 over at Como Park, Old Geelong bounced back from its Round 1 loss to Kew with a 68-point belting of Old Mentonians.

Old Scotch’s Ashley Lim chases DeLa Salle’s Sam Williams. Picture: Susan Windmiller

By the end the Ogs had allowed 15 Old Mentonians goals but kicked a whopping 26 the other way to come up with the percentage-boosting win.

Callum Wood (six goals) was an easy best-on-ground choice while Aaron Bird and Mathew Young each snagged home four majors for the Ogs.

Five goals and a commanding presence that terrorised Parkdale earned Jake Lew best-on-ground honours in AJAX’s 12-point win over the Vultures.

Lew was a clear standout in what was, for the most part, a tense arm wrestle that kept new AJAX coach Marty Pask on his toes for most of the day.

“Jake’s a great football player when he’s on the move and he’s demanding the footy,” Pask said.

“Unfortunately last week he got injured after half-time with a knee injury and played sore in that second half but I thought this week was a really good all-round performance from him.”

The Jackers were remarkably accurate in front of goal and finished with a stunning scoreline of 15.3 (93).

Parkdale ultimately fell short with 11.15 (81) on the board. Pask said his side’s blemish-free seven-goal opening term was “crucial” in setting the tone for the day, but the foot was slightly taken off the pedal to begin the second.

“We pride ourselves on being a side that can move the football and to Parkdale’s credit, they reined us back in the second term,” Pask said.

“For probably the first 20 minutes of the second term we were really beaten at the source, beaten at the contested ball, beaten at the clearances and they got it back. But at the end of that second term we were allowed to get back into playing our way.’’

Meanwhile over at Glenhuntly Oval it was a miserable day for Caulfield Grammarians, who badly fell away from Old Melburnians after quarter time.

Scores were level at the first change but a half-hour later the game was effectively over, with Melburnians keeping the Fields scoreless to establish a 39-point buffer.

The sides traded single goals in the third before Melburnians again dominated the last term, kicking another seven goals to two.

Tom Small (three goals) and Keegan Stewart (two) were two of a small number of Fields players who could hold their heads high in the 73-point drubbing.

The bottom of the Premier Section ladder is an unfamiliar and uncomfortable place for Collegians to find itself two games into the new season but solace can be taken from its eight-point loss to Old Trinity at Harry Trott Oval.

The Lions were forced into catch-up footy for most of the day and trailed by 19 points at three-quarter time.

However, they managed to keep themselves in touch and in the end only allowed Trinity 10.12 (72) for the day.

Nick Corp and Shura Taft combined for five goals.

In Division 2 it was a very dirty day for both Elsternwick and South Melbourne.

The Wickers were dismal from the get-go in their 81-point loss to Eltham Collegians, while the Swans kicked just 2.3 (15) for the day while giving away 27.17 (179) the other way to Ivanhoe.

In Division 3 Power House and Albert Park had wins over La Trobe and Glen Eira respectively.

Old Brighton Grammarians has emerged as an early favourite to regain their status as a Premier Section club after coming away from Mazenod’s Central Reserve with a 50-point win.

The Tonners sit undefeated on top of the Premier B ladder under new coach Greg Hutchison but he won’t be getting too carried away with his young side’s good early form.

“From what I’ve found of the boys so far, they’re a good group and responsive to the coaching so we’re optimistic we can produce good effort on a weekly basis and do what we need to do,” Hutchison said.

“We’re all fairly pleased with how it’s gone. I think I’ve been more pleased defensively than with anything else.

“It’s a difficult thing to try and teach team defence. Our players have responded really well and that’s something we’re really looking to focus on through the course of the year.”

Saturday’s result never looked in doubt as the Tonners shot out to a 33-point quarter time lead.

From there the visitors maintained control with Daniel Anthony dominating up forward, kicking five goals ahead of his side’s crucial local derby against the Hampton Rovers on Anzac Day.

“You always like to start well but sometimes that’s a little out of your control and our players attacked the contest pretty well early,” Hutchison said.

“We had lots of opportunities in the first quarter to score a lot more than we did.

“We went inside 50 19 times in the first quarter so to get a result of 6.4 probably wasn’t what we were looking for, but we’re really happy with the start that we’ve had.

“We’ve had two good wins and we’re looking forward to the next challenge against a rival from down the road.” The Rovers weren’t so lucky on the road against St Bedes, going down by 40 points in a shootout at Brindisi Street.

The Rovers were down by eight points at quarter time and that margin had ballooned out to 24 by the main break.

However, with seven goals to two in the third, Hampton fought its way back into the contest and led the Tigers by three points going into the last.

It was until that point where the positives lasted, though, with St Bedes blasting away courtesy of an unstoppable nine-goal haul from Luke Kowalski.

Adam McNeil and Leigh Fletcher were standouts for the Rovers but little could be done to quell a rampant Kowalski.

Up in Premier Section Beaumaris remains winless from two starts after running into a hot University Blues outfit at Melbourne University Oval.

The Sharks never really got rolling from the outset and allowed the Blues to get the early jump with a 19-point quarter time lead.

At half-time the difference was 30 and by three-quarter time it was out to 40, as Beaumaris struggled to gain momentum throughout the day.

In the end the Blues scored a comfortable 52-point win with Tom Quinn snagging four goals.

Williams Edmonds, Daniel Gribbin and Scott Gower each kicked two for Beaumaris - which is still searching for a win after sharing the points with Old Carey in Round 1.

The Sharks will take on St Bernards on Anzac Day.