St Bedes / Mentone Tigers are B Section Premiers for 2007 after storming over Uni Blacks in the final term for a famous 13 point victory.
The Tigers were as many as four goals down during the match and behind from the eight minute mark of the second term until the 16 minute mark of the last term when Paul Wintle snapped a left foot cracker. Another followed quickly, and a better one at that, from Andy Hayes and Sam Hecker nailed one from the goal square to give the Tigers a lead Blacks couldnโ€™t quite muster enough fight to turn over.
It had been an absorbing contest from start to finish with the relentless pressure of the Blacks, combined with some stunning long range goals, giving them the ascendancy, on the score board at least, for most of the day.
The normally fluent Tigers couldnโ€™t get any real run going and every time they mustered a challenge, the Blacks were able to respond.
James Vanderloo and Anthony Evans were doing all the good work up forward but it was Glenn Coleman that was steady as a rock down back that stood out. The marking prowess of the Blacks was a real factor and their ability to hit targets was their biggest advantage.
The Tigers were getting their hands on the ball but constant skill errors, as much a result of Blacks pressure as anything, saw numerous turnovers through the middle of the ground.
More often that not Blacks would capitalize and it seemed every time they went forward, they scored a goal.
At half-time the lead for Blacks was just a point having taken the lead after a Mortensen goal but the lead didnโ€™t indicate how much they had controlled proceedings to that point.
The Tigers, although not playing well, were in the game, but a stunning start to the third term from Blacks sent a few scares through the Tiger camp.
Vanderloo booted a goal in the opening minute, and then after an arm-wrestle that lasted 10 minutes, kicked another to give his side a 14 point buffer. Things got worse for the Tigers just three minutes later when the Blacks added another major and all of sudden the lead was 25 points.
The Tigers had managed just one scoring shot in the first 20 minutes and didnโ€™t look like they had any answers.
But they had been the stand-out team all season and were not going to give up, despite the Blacks runners, Huw Lacey, Al Smith and Matt Kempton finding time and space all over the field.
It was time for a Tiger to stand up and it was the skipper Luke Wintle who started to take control in the ruck and through some bustling rather than finesse started to bullock the ball forward for his side.
At he 20 minute mark Andy Scafidi took a screamer on the goal line and from the tight angle โ€“ he was up against the point post, slotted the goal the Tigers needed. The lead was back to 19 points and the Tigers were coming.
Matt Hilton missed a set shot from 35m after some solid team running got him the ball, but his miss wasnโ€™t all bad because a couple of minutes later Wintle took a powerful pack mark in the goal square and slotted the goal to get his side within 12 points when the three-quarter-time siren went.

There was no fire and brimstone from Tigers coach Luke Beveridge at the huddle as he re-iterated to his players they had been the best side all year and had the capabilities to reel the Blacks in.
His words worked because within 30 seconds of the re-start, Sam Hecker snapped a goal after a ball-up at the tip of the Tiger goal-square, and the lead was just one goal.
The Tiger army, huddled on the hill behind the goals, was up and about and loud again; they could sense things were not lost.
But just to make things harder two minutes later Anthony Evans bobbed up a kicked one for the Blacks to give them their buffer back.
This game was alive, and despite Blacks upper hand on the scoreboard, the sense was the Tigers were coming.
They started to pepper the goals and Hecker kicked his second for the term at the five minute mark to cut the deficit to six points again and the Tigers started to pour on the pressure.
Defender Jamie Maddocks missed a set shot from 35m, a long bomb was rushed through and then another point got the Tigers to within two points.
The clock ticked by 14 then 15 minutes and the Tigers werenโ€™t getting the goal they needed. But then, with the Blacks exhausted and stopping almost to a walk, the Tigers got the space in their game they had been waiting for. The ball was moved quickly forward after a stoppage and it found its way to Paul Wintle who, running away from the goals, put ball to his left boot and spilt the middle.
They had been behind since the second term but 16 minutes in to the final term of the season; St Bedes were back in front.
Sam Anstey was doing a power of work in the middle and although his finishing wasnโ€™t always first class he was still getting the pill and pumping it forward.
Two minutes later a bobbing ball ended up in the hands of Andy Hayes who, like Wintle, was running away from the goals but also managed to split the middle with a stunning left-foot snap.
They were the sort of goals that are deflating for an opposition and the Blacks looked flattened by that one. But they kept trying and had consecutive shots from Lawless and Green but neither could convert. Everything was going right for the Tigers though and another stoppage in front of their goal, after feverish attempts from all players to wrestle control, ended with a free kick to Hecker, who, after a 25m penalty was given away by frustrated Blacks defenders, kicked his third for the term and with 26 minutes gone, sealed their premiership win.
Grand Finals are often lacklustre affairs for various reasons, but this one was not.
Both teams gave their all and were spent when the final siren rang out.
Last year, having won the C Section Grand Final by a single point, arms were raised in jubilant triumph by Tigers players at the final siren. This year those arms were not raised but placed on knees as they hunched over in exhaustion.
Thatโ€™s how much everyone involved put in to what will be remembered as a classic VAFA finale.

Final Scores:
ST BEDES/MENTONE 3.0 5.4 7.7 12.11 (83)
UNIVERSITY BLACKS 3.4 5.5 9.7 10.10 (70)
GOALS:
ST BEDES/MENTONE: Hecker 5, Hilton 1, Wintle 1, Scafidi 1, Neville 1, Swayn 1, HAYES 1, Wintle 1 UNIVERSITY BLACKS: Vanderloo 3, Evans 2, Smith 1, Mortensen 1, Costello 1, Lacey 1, Van Kempen 1
BEST:
ST BEDES/MENTONE: Wintle, Anstey, Hellier, Maddocks, Hecker, Scafidi UNIVERSITY BLACKS: Vanderloo, Van Kempen, Coleman, Batten, Kempton, O’Connell