Sport - Boys Football

Our Year 8 Boys Football team competed at the Upper Hume carnival at the Barr Reserve on Wednesday (12th June), the 4th and final day of another action-packed Boys Footy Season.

Illness and injury saw the team missing Lachlan Downing, Cooper Grimshaw, Mike Sheppard and Zeke Hogan (last year's best Year 7 player), with 20 boys in the line-up taking the field against Wodonga Middle Years College in the 10:00am opener on Barr 2.

The boys got off to a flying start in the 1st half, banging on 2 goals to none, with both Centre Half Forward and Vice Captain Thomas Fieldew, and Wingman Will Sayers hitting the scoreboard. The 2nd half however was a different story, with the Wodonga Middle Years boys staging a comeback and kicking 3 goals themselves to take it by 3 points in a thriller (3.2.20 def 2.3.15).

That saw us thrust into the 11:00am match against the usual powerhouse Catholic College Wodonga, who some staff recall current Carlton AFL player Elijah Hollands playing for on the same ground just a few years ago. This one was a whitewash, with Catholic College far too strong and then eventually dominating Galen College in a fiery Final to become Upper Hume champions.

Best players according to Coach Alex Johnson were as follows:

Vice Captain Clarence Lampa was described as being "everywhere", showing silky skills, proving slippery (hard to tackle) and explosive out of the contest. Remarkable considering Clarence doesn't play footy. Since writing in May about his all-round Sporting ability having been to that point our best Year 8 boy in every Sport (Cricket, Lawn Bowls, Soccer and Cross Country), he has since been the #1 seed in our Badminton team leading them to the Upper Hume Championship in Wodonga, and now the best Footballer. What a talent he is. To top it off, after being awarded Best On Ground in both matches, he then volunteered to Umpire the end match while we had the bye. A super character.

Captain Isaac Robinson was dominant at Centre Half Back, taking contested marks and allowing us to slingshot back into attack. Like Lampa, he is a balanced, smooth mover and classy disposer of the ball, two attributes you rarely see in such a tall footballer. A talent to watch in the future.

Rover Andrew Fraser was in and under, not afraid to get the hard ball, and showed an uncanny ability to find space on the Wing. Along with his younger brother Angus, he forms one of the best sets of Footballing brothers we have at the moment.

Hugh Spring patrolled the midfield and half forward area ensuring multiple forward entries. Like Lampa, Spring doesn't play football but has all the natural instincts to be an excellent player. Interestingly, he was the #2 seed to Lampa in the  all-conquering Badminton team and is a natural all-round sporting talent with real athleticism and power, on top of being a wonderful young character.

Riley McKay played in the Ruck most of the day, winning most of his taps due to his outstanding vertical leap and sheer "want" for the ball, and often found himself roving his own ruck taps. He provided that big, strong, athletic and tough physical presence all football teams want to be built around.

Vice Captain Noah Williams worked hard in the Centre, with his game featuring selfless blocking and multiple hard ball gets. Another super young man from the Wangaratta West Primary School factory, who interestingly has given us 5 of the 6 players from this Best Player list - all but Fraser.

Big thank you to all 20 boys for representing us and competing hard. Thanks to Alex Johnson for coaching the boys. Thanks also to Young Guns Angus Fraser and Lane Sloan of Year 7, as well as Year 8 Girls Kaity Ford, Leila Hyland and Bella White, who were all said to be excellent helpers. Thanks of course to Clarence Lampa and also Will Sayers who both officiated as Central Umpires after playing two matches.

Another great day of Interschool Sport. We look forward to the Junior Girls Football next Wednesday 19th June.

Heaps of photos on Facebook - thanks to current parent and former W.H.S-teacher Kev McKennan for the great action shots.

GOAL KICKERS: Thomas Fieldew 1, Will Sayers 1.

BEST PLAYERS: Clarence Lampa, Isaac Robinson, Andrew Fraser, Hugh Spring, Riley McKay, Noah Williams

HOW THEY LINED UP -

B: Patrick Alker-Jones, Zach Wills, Charlie Bell

HB: Oskar McGahan, Isaac Robinson (C), Charlie Walsh

C: Hugh Spring, Noah Williams (VC), Jed Murray

HF: Taylor Rowley, Thomas Fieldew (VC), Will Sayers

F: Jeremy Bagley, Asher Hardman, Nick Dark Jr

RUCK: Riley McKay, Clarence Lampa (VC), Andrew Fraser

INT: Lars Croft

Jud Mullins

CLC Coordinator.