The North Eastern under 17s team led by coach Peter Meyer snatched a thrilling 3-point victory over Northern Areas at Jamestown on Saturday to claim the 2009 Landmark Cup.
To reach the final North Eastern had to get over the line in the first game they played against Yorke Peninsula and what a finish that turned out to be with North Eastern winning by 1 solitary point.
North Eastern played a solid first half of football nailing 4 goals 2 behinds while Yorke Peninsula put 3 straight goals on the scoreboard.
Skipper Kyron Burgess led the way with 2 goals for North Eastern in the first half with Tom Huppatz and Zac Lynch sending home a major each. For Yorke Peninsula Alex Pierson booted 2 goals and Danile Lutz slotted through 1.
Yorke Peninsula fought back in the second half with Chris Flavel and Dylan Mansell nailing majors while Pierson took his tally to 3 with another goal in the second half.
In the meantime Lachie Bunfield had booted a major for North Eastern but they trailed by 5 points with only seconds remaining in the game before Mitchell Reynolds got hold of the footy, kicked it deep inside fifty, Dylan Busch marked, the siren blew, Busch split the centre and North Eastern had won by the barest of margins.
FINAL SCORE: NORTH EASTERN 6.2 (38) d YORKE PENINSULA 6.1 (37)
North Eastern fronted up against Northern Areas in the grand final after they trounced Adelaide Plains by 46 points in the opening game of the carnival and a terrific contest eventuated between the arc-rivals.
Northern Areas was first to get the scoreboard ticking over with Luke Ansbury snapping truly with 2 minutes on the clock but North Eastern answered two minutes later.
Kyron Burgess pumped a top kick into the goal-square and Tom Whittlesea held onto an excellent grab before converting to level the scores at a goal each.
North Eastern went forward from the re-start but finished with a rushed behind. Northern Areas transferred the footy the length of the ground from the kick-in finishing with Brad Heard having a snap for goal but he missed the target.
At the 8-minute mark Johnny Lynch marked strongly at half-forward, hit Dylan Busch lace out on the lead and he kicked accurately from 45 metres out to put North Eastern back in front by a goal.
Two minutes later Lynch had a snap for goal but a Northern Areas defender got a fingertip on the footy to register a behind. North Eastern had the upper hand at this stage of the game before Chris Lange received a free for Northern Areas that bemused everybody and made no mistake from point blank range.
North Eastern hit back late in the term with Whittlesea taking another good mark and guiding the footy over the goal-umpires hat from 40 metres out giving the 15-year-old 2 majors for the half to take a 7-point lead into the second half.
HALF TIME NORTH EASTERN 3.2 (20), NORTHERN AREAS 2.1 (13)
North Eastern went straight into attack in the first minute of the second half but a snap at the big sticks by Brett Mitchell went the wrong side of the large upright.
Scoring became a tough assignment for the next eight minutes for both teams before Burgess had a ping at the target for North Eastern but he only registered a minor score.
Eleven minutes had elapsed in the second half before Northern Areas broke the shackles with Tom Arbon running into an open goal and poking home a much-needed major for the locals.
A minute later Northern Areas had the opportunity to hit the front but they finished with a behind and with 14 minutes on the clock Bill Sandow could’ve stretched the North Eastern advantage but he missed as well.
It was starting to look grim for the visitors when Arbon gathered the footy and snapped his second goal for the half to give Northern Areas a 3-point advantage as the clock ticked into the time-on period.
The next two or three minutes was an intense struggle with North Eastern doing most of the attacking but they couldn’t take a grab inside fifty and their runners couldn’t get hold of the spilt footy.
With the siren looming and the footy on the deck North Eastern needed somebody to get hold of it and split the centre.
Whittlesea did just that, he swooped on a loose ball, whacked it on his boot over the left shoulder from 30 metres out, it sailed straight through the middle, the siren blew, the goal-umpire gave the two-finger salute and North Eastern had won the 2009 under 17s Landmark Cup by 3 points.
FINAL SCORE: NORTH EASTERN 4.5 (29) d NORTHERN AREAS 4.2 (26)
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