Stony steals a win

IN a close clash, Stony Creek brought home a win against Phillip Island in the 2016 season opener.
Playing at Phillip Island, Stony Creek was feeling the sting of the home ground advantage and only managed to score two points against Phillip Island’s 16 by the end of the first quarter.
Some inspiring words from Stony Creek coach Steve Coats had the boys fired up for the second quarter.
The Phillip Island boys were led by captain/coach and league best and fairest Brendan Kimber, and were also prepped to battle out the rest of the game.
From then on it was a good old fashioned arm wrestle, without much indication of who would take the upper hand.
The boys gained some ground against Phillip Island, but it was lost again by the third quarter. The seesawing score had Stony Creek supporters on the edge of their seats, and the cheers for five point win was akin to the roar of the crowd after Stony Creek last won the premiership.
A final total of 51 to 56 Stony Creek’s way shone on the scoreboard.
The highlight of the game was the effort of young gun Eli Taylor. This was Taylor’s second Senior game in two years, and it proved to be the best game he played for the club.
Coming on and off the bench during the game, Taylor gave 120 per cent effort to help the midfielders and was certainly player of the day.
Phillip Island also welcomed a junior star to its senior side. At just 15 years old, Brodie Anderson played his first Senior match on the weekend and showed he has the fitness for the team, running all day on the wing and half forward.
Stony Creek’s stand out goal kickers on the day were new gun forward Kerem Baskaya – who kicked four goals – and best player Julian Stone who burst through the pack to kick Stony Creek’s second goal of the match.
Leading goal kickers for Phillip Island were Simon Sedden and Aaron Edwards.
Full back for Stony Creek Ashley Zuidema once again came up against Phillip Island’s Beau Runnalls. Though the muscle was matched, Zuidema refused to give Runnalls more than one goal.
Phillip Island’s biggest presence out on the ground was Mark Griffin, who put up massive pressure in the defence.
Stony Creek’s Kane Wille and Phillip Island’s Corey Batt were among the new and returned players who stood out during the match.
The high intensity game was an excellent start to the season for both teams.
Next week, Stony Creek will face Dalyston at home.
With no injuries coming out of the first match and a few more players returning from the Easter break, Stony Creek anticipates a tough selection process during the week and the potential of a win come this Saturday.
Phillip Island will face Fish Creek in a 2015 preliminary final rematch.
Ready for a spot of redemption early in the season, Phillip Island expects a terrific match will be played out between the two this weekend.

High intensity: from left, Jarred Byrnes, Jacob Brydon, Michael Duiker and Simon Seddon battle it out for the ball. Photo courtesy of Gerard Bruning.

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Posted by Sarah Vella on Mar 30 2016. Filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry