IT was a very positive Saturday for the Whittlesea region’s teams with all four of the senior men’s sides producing wins.
South Morang continue to prove they are the real deal in division two of the Northern Football Netball League (NFNL) with a three-goal win over Old Paradians in a back and forth clash.
Playing the second of back-to-back home games, the Lions got the jump early thanks to two first-quarters goals for Ethan Lowe.
They jumped out to a 19-point lead at the first break, but the visitors nailed four of the next five to bring it back to a point the difference just 12 minutes into the second, and South Morang found itself seven points adrift as half time loomed.
A smart snap from the goal square from Tyson Gresham was followed by a set shot finish from Sebastian Latina to give the Lions the lead back, and it was extended to 11 early in the third thanks to Lowe’s third goal of the day.
Jesse John Christidis got his name in the scorebooks with the first major of the final term, and the home side held on to secure a 97-80 win.
Latina joined Lowe with three goals for the day, and was named in the best alongside Gresham, Nathan Stefanile, Carter McCall and best-on-ground David Cameron.
The reserves held firm to record a 38-point win, while the under-19.5s crushed Eltham by 137 points thanks to Kaden Isherwood’s eight-goal haul and Marcus Cutajar adding seven.
South Morang sit in outright second position now on the division two seniors ladder, just a game back from Northcote Park in first.
Trailing them closely in fourth position is Whittlesea who dealt with Thomastown by 33 points.
The Eagles couldn’t break away from their opponents until the third quarter when they put on three goals in a row to give themselves a 27-point buffer.
Thomastown threatened to cause a boilover, reducing the margin back to eight early in the last, but Whittlesea kicked the final four goals to secure the points, winning 84-51.
Young forward Caden Allen could only add one goal to his team-leading tally of 20 for the season. Instead it was Angus Smith who backed up a four-goal performance from last week with another bag of four.
Bailey Robinson was among Whittlesea’s best players again and was joined by Smith, Paul Higgins and Khaled El-Leissy.
A team effort from the Eagles’ reserves side helped them get over the top of Thomastown by four goals, while the under-19.5s suffered their first blemish of the season going down to Hurstbridge by 22 points in division one.
Meanwhile in division three, Laurimar have themselves well and truly tuned up for their blockbuster clash against Ivanhoe this weekend following a 120-point romp of Kilmore.
Heading up the Hume to take on the 3-2 Blues, the Power held the upper hand early without quite putting the scoreboard pressure on.
Registering two goals and seven behinds to start the game, the visitors cleaned up their act to kick away to a 44-point lead at half time.
Not wanting to take their foot off the pedal, Laurimar’s men put on 13 goals in the second half and held Kilmore to just a solitary major
Patrick Fitzgerald was big once again, slotting five while Hayden Trim continued his stellar run of form to bag a handful as well.
Joel Lawson’s four-goal effort got his name among the Power’s best and he was joined by Tyler Thomas, Jesse Donaldson and Bailey Macleod.
Both the seniors and reserves remain undefeated after the seconds got the job done by 47 points over a valiant Blues outfit.
A 67-point thrashing of Heidelberg in the under-19.5s capped off a stellar weekend for the Laurimar boys.
Further south, Mernda have bolstered their case to be the best of the rest after a 92-49 win over Heidelberg West at Heidelberg Park in the Les Butterworth Cup.
It was far from a fast start for the Demons who gave up six scoring shots to four in the first term, but they held a three-point lead at the quarter-time break.
The visitors really got their game going in the second quarter. Singles to Jayden Bell and Zach Ciacia gave them some breathing room and then Lincoln Coffey added another two before half time to extend the lead to 17.
The Hawks threatened to get back into the fold in the middle of the third but three straight goals, capped by Coffey’s third of the day, meant that Mernda just had to hold its nerve in the last.
Bell joined Coffey with three goals when he extended the lead to a game-high 46 points, and the game ended shortly after with the margin at 43.
The pair were named in the best alongside Josh Mazzarella, Declan Felle, Bradyn Thomsett and Christopher Roussos.
In the reserves, the Demons got over the line by 11 points in a low-scoring affair.
All eyes will be set on Laurimar Reserve next weekend as the two heavyweights of division three – Laurimar and Ivanhoe – meet. The winner of that game will take a huge step towards promotion and claim the moral victory of being the last unbeaten team in the division.
Mernda will face Old Eltham Collegians in an away fixture, while Whittlesea will host St Mary’s and South Morang will travel down the road to face Macleod.
On the netball courts, Friday night’s action was a mixed bag once again. Whittlesea 1 and Laurimar 1 continue to show signs with two and six-goal victories respectively, while South Morang 2 and 3 showed their premier team how it’s done.
Laurimar 4 were the only others to record a win, while Whittlesea 3 and 4 each played out draws against Kilmore and Bundoora.