Under-18 Round 1 Match Report: Panthers take down Eagles

Under-18 Match Report

South Adelaide @ Eagles
Round 1 - Maughan Thiem Kia Oval - 28/6/20

Goals: Nye 3, Hoeck 2, Clifton, Cook, Draper, Roberts, Spicer

South Adelaide's Under-18s kicked off 2020 with a win as they stormed home to beat the Eagles by ten points at Woodville Oval on Sunday.

Trailing by 20 points during the early stages of the third term, the Panthers mounted a huge comeback and booted six second half goals while only conceding two to kick off 2020 with a 10.12 (72) to 9.8 (62) win.

Max Clifton was impressive for the Panthers with 26 touches and seven clearances, while Liam Nye was dangerous up-forward in the blue and white with three goals.

South Adelaide started the best out of the two sides, as the Panthers kicked the first two goals of the match. However, the Eagles were able to cut South's lead quickly, as they booted two goals in just two minutes.

Some wayward kicking in the final stages of the opening quarter saw the Panthers register just four straight points to end the term, but they still headed into quarter time with a 2.5 (17) to 2.0 (12) lead.

However, the Eagles began to take control of the game during the second quarter, as they booted three unanswered goals before Brayden Cook was able to steady the Panthers with his first goal of the match.

Clifton then followed just a minute later with his first of the game, but the Eagles once again struck back late with two goals of their own.

Facing a 4.7 (31) to 7.3 (45) deficit at the main break things did not look good as the Eagles booted the first goal of third term to increase their lead to 20 points.

However, this would be the last Eagles goal until the sixth minute mark of the fourth quarter during which time the Panthers had managed to pile on five unanswered goals.

After the Eagles' first goal in over 29 minutes of play Nye was able to respond for the Panthers with the game sealer, handing South Adelaide a strong 10.12 (72) to 9.8 (62) season opening win.

Despite losing the hit outs (29 to 45) and the clearances (23 to 38), the Panthers were able to register 12 more inside 50s than the Eagles while also completely dominating the air with 115 marks compared to the Eagles' 62.

Liam Hamilton led the way in this category, as he collected ten marks for the Panthers while Nicholas Kraemer led the Panthers' tackle count with nine.

South Adelaide's U18s now face Glenelg at Flinders University Stadium on Saturday July 4, from 2:10 pm.

Are you #SouthProud in 2020?