The opening bounce of the new junior girls football competition may have taken centre stage last weekend, but the third round of the Limestone Coast Women’s Football League still produced some history of its own.

Inspired from seeing its junior side win on debut, Kongorong’s senior team completed the magical day by scoring its first ever victory at the top level.

It has been a long journey for the Hawks after enduring two winless years in the competition, but they were finally able to sing the team song after 822 days of pain.

Coach Michael Dethmore has been there since the start and admitted it was a relief to get the victory, saying he hoped it was only the start of brighter things to come.

“We hope the league and the team keep going for another 100 years and I said to the team ‘you will always be remembered as the first winning team (for Kongorong),” he said.

“The girls were very excited, but I was probably more relieved to get the monkey off the back because we got very close a couple of times last year and I started to panic, wondering if we actually know how to win a game.

“We changed up the game style to suit us against Kalangadoo and the girls responded which blew me away.

“But we put in a lot of work on the track and I knew we were not far off.”

It was clear to the crowd at Blue Lake Sports Park that Kongorong came to play from first bounce.

With opponent Kalangadoo having also endured a winless start to the season, both teams could sense a golden opportunity to score an uplifting win and the Hawks were the hungriest.

The likes of Jade Longbottom and Evie Sealey provided plenty of leg speed to flood the scoreboard at a rate Kongorong has never done before.

During the entire 2021 LCWFL season, the Hawks only registered 41 points across eight games, but the same team managed to score 34 before the quarter time siren.

Stevie Collins made the most of the bombardment kicking two majors, while Jasmin McKinnon, Sheba Miller, Kate Wright and Sealey also found the big sticks.

With a 34-6 lead at the first change, many would have expected Kongorong to keep up the good work, but swept up in the emotion of the stunning start the young side let the Pies back into the game as they ran out of puff with many playing back-to-back games.

The Hawks could only muster one behind in the second and third terms and Kalangadoo made them pay.

Amanda Bowd was a strong target up forward slotting two goals as the deficit closed to just 11 points at the change.

With the game and a much-needed win for both clubs on the line, the tension and battle for possession heated up.

Midway through the final term Kalangadoo looked to be putting together the finishing touches of a stunning comeback when it maintained its 100% accuracy in front of goal to close the margin to single figures.

However, Kongorong found the perfect response with a goal minutes later to re-consolidate its precious lead.

The contest remained delicately poised until the final siren sounded which was immediately followed by some special scenes.

Joyous screams, hugs and celebrations amongst the Kongorong faithful were littered all over the ground on both sides of the fence to mark a moment some may never have thought would arrive.

Dethmore said the club’s successes across both grades deserves to be celebrated, but the team must remain focused on the road ahead.

“It was a historic day because the juniors game was also a fantastic game of footy,” he said.

“The standard was fantastic and to have the two teams winning on the same day is great for the camaraderie amongst the club and competition.

“Now it is an even bigger challenge to see if we can keep moving forward.

“We do not want to sit stagnant with the one win, we want to keep working and get a couple of more wins because it will only get harder now as teams treat us with a bit more respect.”