Scores:
Old Xaverians: 15 – 12 – 102 def. Beaumaris: 10 – 15 – 75

On a warm day at Stradbroke Park the under19s faced their first real
test of the year, up against an improved and confident Beaumaris side coming
off a 20 goal win in round 1. One change to the side that beat Blacks last week
saw Pat Ambrose play his first of hopefully many games for the OXFC and in a
hot start to the game it was the Red and Black who made it count on the score
board. Still learning to play the small Stradbroke Park, the Xavs showed great
composure and skill to hit their targets and convert their opportunities early
on.

Brendan Goss (6 goals) continued his great form of last week
kicking a couple early to set the tone, whilst Louis Tiernan and Daniel
Harangozo started to win the hard ball in and around the stoppages. Neither
side was giving much away and at the first break the Xavs held a 2 goal lead,
having the game played on their terms and structuring up well against their
fancied opponents.

The second quarter saw a swing in momentum and for the first time this
year the unders were challenged. Beaumaris started to win the ball around the
ground and had all the play, only to waste their chances. The turning point
came from great pressure up forward. Beaumaris had kicked the 1st goal and
peppered them for 10min, when Zac Pirrie smothered and then followed up his own
work to kick a goal against the run of play and from here the Xavs steadied.
They showed great maturity to hold the opposition off and hit them on the
counter attack to go into half time 3 goals up.

The second half promised plenty after a bit of push and shove at half
time and it was the Xavs who came out hot. They piled on 5 goals to 3,
dominating all stats and position on the ground. Pat Ambrose proved a great
target at CHF and along with Nick Biddlecombe really stretched the defence of
the opposition. The run off the half backline was what gave us the ascendancy,
with Ben Plant, Johnny Pintal and Ed Maas launching wave after wave of
attacks and giving our forwards great service. Jackson McGrath had his
best quarter for the year and could have had a day out had he kicked straight,
while Luke Bisset had his own footy as he played on the wing and
continually lost his marker to run riot and show everyone his first class ball
use.

The final term saw the Xavs go through the motions a bit after kicking
the first three to seal the game. The result could have been a lot more
had we not taken the foot off the pedal, but credit to Beaumaris as the kept
attacking and we will have to work on finishing these games out. It was
another great team effort from a side still learning to play together. Everyone
is contributing and their attack on the ball is as good as any under19 over the
last 5 years. Jack Amad showed this when in one passage of play he laid 4
tackles and two smothers to eventually win a free kick and the accolades of his
teammates. With a few tough games to come, there are plenty of good signs going
forward for this group.