St Bedes/Mentone Tigers outclassed a gallant Marcellin Old Collegians by 100 points at Elsternwick Park on Saturday and in so doing regained second position on the ‘A’ Section ladder. The Tigers take on VAFA icon Old Xaverians in a top-of-the-table tussle at Brindisi Street next Saturday.
On a perfect day for football at headquarters, the Seniors had first use of a slight breeze and scored early but were thwarted by Marcellin’s run and passing game which yielded 3 straight goals, however, the Tigers responded and banged on 4 for themselves to lead by 16 points at quarter time.
In the second quarter the Mentone team took it up to Marcellin with the whole team working for each other – running, supporting and harassing – and extended their lead to 31 points at the long break.
Andrew Scafidi in and around the packs, was having his best game for the year, James Tyquin was hard at the football and willing himself to every contest and the class of Brett Collins was showing through time and again. The signs were not good for the Eagles…..
After the break, the Tigers were irrepressible and forced the ball forward at every opportunity and, with Kristian Bliesner improving with every outing, blasted out a 10 goal quarter to lead by 80 points at the final turn.
In the last, Marcellin resisted the onslaught with goals of their own but were unable to prevent the Tigers from adding another 8 goals 6 as they showed their characteristic, overpowering final stanza with Michael Curcio finishing with 5 while Brett Collins’ 4 for the quarter took his tally to 7.
The Tigers are now assured of participating in the 2009 finals and with De La Salle’s loss to Uni Blues, the fight is truly on for the double chance.
The Reserves returned to some form to win easily by 62 points but remain a game outside the four.
The U19s went down by a point in a thriller and with the U18s are now each just outside the four with 2 games remaining before the finals.
Next week perennial finalists Old Xavs journey to Mentone having now won the last 14 in a row while the Tigers have won the last 6 themselves – if you fancy local football Brindisi Street next Saturday might well be worth the trip to see the long-time titans of the competition face off against last year’s premiers.