Panton Hill stuns St Mary’s to all but lock in NFL Division 2 football in 2022
Promotion-winners Panton Hill can start planning for 2022 in NFL Division 2 after a stunning upset win over finals contending St Mary’s.
Northern
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Panton Hill all but secured its place in NFL Division 2 next season with an incredible 14-point upset win over St Mary’s on Saturday.
The Redbacks are now two games clear of Epping and Fitzroy Stars at the bottom of the table with five games to play after making the step up from Division 3 this year.
The 13.13 (91) to 12.5 (77) win at Whatmough Park also puts a major dent in the Burras’ finals hopes, now a game behind Diamond Creek in the race for fifth.
Coach Simon Amore was rapt for his players and proud of his club’s achievement.
“We’ve had an up and down season, which we expected it to be, we’ve had some good highs and some pretty low lows but they’ve stuck to the task all year,” he said.
“(Staying up) was the first goal we wanted to tick off.
“Fitzroy were fantastic against us a few weeks ago, which was a game we could have or should have won and we were outplayed on the day.
“We needed to find another result along the way to cement that spot and to do that a couple of weeks later is really pleasing.
“It’s exciting for us, we can start to focus on, not only finishing off this year really strongly, but gaining some momentum into next year.”
Trailing by three points at half-time, Panton Hill surged home in the second half with 13 scoring shots to six to stun St Mary’s.
The Redbacks held a slender five-point lead at the final change but finished the stronger to claim a season-defining win.
“Our intent was there from the outset and it was a fantastic opportunity for us to put a four-quarter game together for the first time,” Amore said.
“Just being in the contest and playing as well as we were was enough motivation, the message at three-quarter-time was just to stick to the course.”
Sam Parks was the hero for the Hillmen, running rampant in midfield and pushing forward to kick three goals.
Isaac Silic and Max Brook also booted three majors, while Riley Cousins, Nick Parks and Jesse Owens-Draper also impressed.
“Sam has been phenomenal all year, we’d like to think he’s in contention for Team of the Year,” Amore said.
“His workrate is through the roof, his finding plenty of the footy and pushed forward to kick three as well, which was really important.
“We put the onus on the midfield to hit the scoreboard on Saturday and to have Isaac Silic and Parksy and a few others do that was really pleasing.”
Staggeringly, all three of Panton Hill’s wins have come on the road this season.
The Redbacks will look to break their drought against Eltham this week with games against Epping and Watsonia at Cracknell Reserve still to come.
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“We seem to be playing better away from home at the moment, which is a bit strange,” Amore said.
“I think sometimes we prefer the wider grounds to a point, it helps us get out into open space and change the angles the way we like to and seem to move the ball better.
“With a couple of home games coming up it would be nice to break that home hoodoo.”
St Mary’s host Diamond Creek on Saturday in a clash that could decide the finals fate of both clubs.
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