Under-18 Match Report Round 14: South vs North

Under-18 Match Report

South Adelaide vs North Adelaide
Round 14 - Prospect Oval - 26/09/20

Goals: Roberts 4, Draper, Cook, Brown 2, Clifton, Bottroff, Hoeck, Hayes
Best: Spacie, Nye, Roberts, Verrall, Copley, Brown

South Adelaide Under-18s book themselves into the finals with a hard-fought 16-point win against North Adelaide at Prospect Oval on Saturday.

The final game of the minor round was an early elimination final for the Panthers as the winner would get to continue on into this year's finals series and it was the Panthers who came out on top after managing to hold off the rampant Roosters, 14.10 (94) to 11.12 (78). 

The league experienced Zac Dumesny showed his class with a game-high 33 disposals while Matthew Roberts was outstanding with 28 disposals and four goals.

However, South Adelaide didn't enjoy the start that we hoped for, as just four minutes into the match they were already trailing by two goals. The Panthers first goal of the day didn't come until Max Clifton kicked truly after eight minutes of play.

But this goal set things in motion for the Panthers as Jye Bottroff and Brayden Cook combined for two goals in two minutes to hand the visitors an early lead.

In true finals fashion, the two sides continued to deal blows until the first change, at which point only one behind separated the two sides.

The opening minutes of the second term were similar to that of the first, as North Adelaide booted two unanswered goals to put the Panthers once again on the back foot.

But the Panthers had the answer, with the side combining for four unanswered goals to claim a promising 8.6 (54) to 6.5 (41) lead at the main break.

Both sides only managed two majors during the third term, with Roberts and Arlo Draper both kicking their second goals of the day handing the Panthers a 10.7 (67) to 8.9 (57) at the final change.

With just one quarter left to decide who gets to play finals, both of the sides peppered the goals but failed to find a major with the first five shots being all behinds. 

Dylan Brown would prove to be a valuable player to get the Panthers over the line as he booted two-final term goals, while Roberts would register two more to bump his tally up to four for the day.

The two sides combined for seven final term goals, but it was the Panthers who managed to hold out to come out on top with a 14.10 (94) to 11.12 (78) win and book themselves into this year's final series.

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