SECOND SEMI FINAL

BORDER DISTRICTS V MUNDULLA

Border Districts won through to their first grand final since 1999 with a strong victory over Mundulla in the second semi final at Mundulla on Saturday.

The Eagles came into the game with good form after beating Keith the previous week in the qualifying final.

Mundulla on the other hand earned the week off after winning the minor premiership after finishing top after the minor rounds.

Mundulla got off to the perfect start when Daniel Burgess won the opening centre tap in the ruck down to Dylan Mosey who cleared the ball forward where Nathan Studham marked and kicked the opening goal of the game.

Mundulla again cleared the next centre ball up when Jake McGrice won the clearance and kicked the ball forward and Nathan Studham marked and converted again as the Tigers had two goals on the board in the opening two minutes.

The man of the moment Nathan Studham bobbed up again as he kicked his and Mundulla’s third goal of the game when he roved off a pack and snapped right through the middle as Mundulla’s start had caught Border Districts napping.

Border Districts started to get their hands on the ball more and get the ball forward.

Border Districts were finally rewarded with their first goal of the game after Isaac Hewson won a free kick on the wing and put the ball inside the forward fifty where Mark Quinn took a contested mark and converted the kick into a goal.

Mundulla soon had the response when Nick Mosey snapped a goal and the Tigers pushed out to a three-goal lead again.

Border Districts were right back in the game as Weston Rata kicked a goal to bring the Eagles to within 11 points of Mundulla.

Border Districts got another goal back when Nathan Naylor won a tap from a boundary throw in and he directed it to a running Dylan Schoenmakers who finished the great ruck work by kicking the goal.

Mundulla went into quarter-time six points ahead.

The second quarter began as both sides went in hard and the game was a well contested contest.

Both teams were going tough at the ball trying to not give either team an inch of space to work in.

Border Districts were the first team to kick a goal in the second quarter when Mark Quinn flew for a high mark and grabbed the ball but teammate Luke Nicholas pulled the ball out of Quinn’s hands and was awarded the mark.

Nicholas went back and kicked the goal to put the Eagles in front.

Border Districts soon extended the lead when Dylan Schoenmakers won a contested ball in front of the goal and hand-balled back out to Mackenzie Bower who snapped the goal.

Border Districts struck again as Mackenzie Bower was awarded a free kick and was able to convert the goal to push the margin out to 14 points.

Mundulla soon had another goal as Elliot Jaeschke did a smart tapback out of a contest in the forward line and the ball went to teammate Hamish Young who snapped the goal.

The Tigers had the lead back and prime movers Jake McGrice, Nick Mosey and Nathan Studham were starting to get their hands on more of the ball in key moments for the Tigers.

Border Districts had the lead back soon after as Mackenzie Bower and Western Rata worked the ball between them forward and Dylan Schoenmakers snapped a goal.

Border Districts went into half-time five points in front.

Both sides were very defensive to start the third quarter as neither wanted to give an inch.

Mundulla moved the ball forward but the Eagles repelled it back down the other end and a great contest by Luke Nicholls allowed Dylan Schoenmakers to grab the ball and kick the goal to extend the Eagles’ lead to 11 points.

The Eagles were on top in general play.

Border Districts took over in the third quarter and by the end of it, they had a 21-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Border Districts struck first in the fourth quarter when Jameson Bower had a quick kick from outside 50 and the ball went inside 50 where teammate Isaac Hewson was able to take a mark and kick the goal.

The Eagles extended the lead to 26 points and were looking hard to stop.

The scoring started to dry up as both teams were playing great defensive football.

Mundulla worked the ball forward late where Jack Guy did a great tackle deep in the forward 50 and was awarded a free kick.

Jack went back and kicked the goal.

Border Districts had been the better team on the day as the siren sounded as the Eagles were off to their first KNTFL Grand Final since 1999.

Mundulla lives to fight another day when they will face Kingston in the preliminary final for the right to face Border Districts.

FIRST SEMI FINAL

KINGSTON V KEITH

Kingston won through to a preliminary final showdown with Mundulla after the Saints won their first semi-final against Keith on Sunday at Padthaway.

The Saints again won on the back of a breakout third quarter like the previous week against Naracoorte after the game was tight at halftime.

Kingston started the game full of attacking plays and was winning the small battles early.

The Saints kicked with the breeze in the first quarter and were trying to use it to their advantage.

Kingston got the first goal of the game as milestone man Chad Wood slotted the ball through the middle as Jack Armfield, Jacob Fisher and William Watts combined to get Wood the ball in his 50th game.

Keith got the answering goal as Lewis Hender put through the Crows’ first goal of the game.

The Crows hit the front not long after as William Schreiber snapped a great goal out of a pack to give Keith a four-point lead.

Kingston extended the margin after the quarter-time siren when Todd Lockwood kicked straight through the middle to give the Saints a seven-point lead at the first change.

The second quarter was a real tackle fest as both teams did not want to give an inch to the other side.

Keith got a goal early in the quarter as George Johnson kicked straight to level the scores.

Both defences were on top as neither forward line could grab hold of the game.

Kingston got a goal from Todd Lockwood as the Saints opened up a six-point lead late in the second quarter.

Kingston went into half-time eight points ahead.

Kingston took control of the early parts of the third quarter as the Saints kept the ball in their forward half of the ground.

The Saints got a great start to the quarter as Jack Harding kicked an early goal to stretch the margin out to 14 points.

Jed Castley soon added another as he scrambled through a goal in a tight contest and Kingston was all of a sudden 20 points in front.

Keith cut the margin back to 12 points when Colby Read put through a goal to try and slow the Saints down.

Kingston had taken the game away from Keith in the third quarter.

In his 50th game for the Saints, Ben Rogers made lots of spoils whenever the Crows went forward.

Kingston went into three-quarter time 32 points ahead.

All the momentum was with Kingston at the start of the fourth quarter as the Saints looked to kill off the Crows early in the quarter.

Tom Rogers put through the first goal of the quarter and when Jack Harding followed up with another soon after, the Saints had opened up a 43-point lead.

Keith got a goal through Lewis Hender as he put through their fifth of the game.

Todd Lockwood ran into an open goal to put through his fifth of the game.

William Watts who had a good afternoon gathering the ball, ended up with another goal for the Saints as they had booked a date on Saturday against Mundulla with a strong showing against Keith.