Under-18 Match Report Round 8: South vs Eagles

Under-18 Match Report

South Adelaide vs Eagles
Round 8 - Maughan Thiem Kia Oval - 15/08/20

Goals: Cook 5, Draper 2, Hoeck, Snelling, Brown, Treloar
Best: Cook, Spacie, Clifton, Draper, Birt, Brown

South Adelaide Under-18s come from behind to defeat Woodville-West Torrens by one point during a thrilling encounter at Maughan Thiem Kia Oval on Saturday.

Trailing by 21 points at the final change, the Panthers booted five final term goals to snatch the lead with just 16 seconds left to play with Jack Flett's only score during the match, a sole-point, proving to be game winner during the nail-biting 11.13 (79) to 12.6 (78) win. 

The opening term was what most would have expected between the two evenly matched sides, with the Panthers bouncing back after conceding the first two goals of the match to head into the first break equal with the Eagles at 3.1 (19) apiece. 

However, things began to look bad for the Panthers during the second quarter as the home side booted two goals within just the first three minutes.

South Adelaide were able to steady through an Arlo Draper goal, but the Eagles would continue to their goal onslaught only minutes later, as they booted four unanswered goals to finish the second term handing the Panthers a 4.5 (29) to 9.3 (57) deficit at halftime.

By the time Hugo Hoeck kicked truly at the seventh minute mark of the third term, South Adelaide were staring at a 31-point deficit. Brayden Cook would follow up minutes later with his first and South Adelaide's last goal of the third term.

With the scoreboard reading 6.9 (45) to 10.6 (66) at the final change the Panthers had plenty of work to do to claw themselves back into the match.

Cook certainly got busy within the first six minutes of the fourth quarter as he booted three unanswered goals for the Panthers. However, this newfound momentum would be halted with an Eagles goal at the fourteenth minute mark.

The Eagles would goal again at the seventeenth mark in what looked like the game sealer for them. Refusing to go down without a fight however, Cook responded with his fifth goal of the match while Luke Mitton followed up minutes later to cut the deficit to just a point.

Then a point by Phoenix Spicer levelled the scores as the game entered its final minute of play. Then just forty-four seconds later, Flett was able to take a set shot from a difficult angle and while he missed, the point handed the Panthers their first lead since the opening term.

The Eagles attempted to go end to end but it was too late, and the siren sounded to hand South Adelaide the nail-biting 11.13 (79) to 12.6 (78) win.

South Adelaide Under-18s now face Glenelg at Flinders University Stadium on Saturday August 22, from 11:30am. 

Are you #SouthProud in 2020?