High School Heist

A five minute blast of four goals straight that flipped a 20 point deficit into a 4 point lead saw SKOB Seniors turn almost certain defeat into victory as their last minute surge was enough to see them sneak home against a mighty gallant Caulfield Grammarians who took it right up to their hosts at St Kevin's College Oval on Saturday. The win kept SKOB within striking distance of the top two as the season reaches its final third. Elsewhere there wasn't a lot of joy for SKOB teams who had to rely on borrowed players and fill-ins aplenty across the board. Our Under 19 Premier team had a vital win down at Parkdale and the Stingers moved one step closer to guaranteeing their finals spot with a win over Fitzroy at the College, but that was it for the good news. An undermanned Reserves team had their finals papers torn up by Caulfield in the curtain raiser at the school. The Saints faced the might of Caulfield and both the Golds and Blues found their hosts too strong, whilst the Greens ran out of petrol tickets at Monash and dropped from top spot in the process. The Academy ran into the Xavs juggernaut and the SKOB Dogs needed 8 players from the Academy game to double up and play for them against Fitzroy - alas the Roys were far too strong. (NB: A special shout out to Sam Doyle who was best for the Academy, and then best again for the SKOB Dogs - remarkable). Our Under 19 Division teams also found better opposition on the day with the SD1's succumbing to OM's at Elsternwick Park and the SD3's having a narrow loss to Beaumaris.

A patchy day for SKOB who will be eagerly watching the Arrivals Lounge for reinforcements in the coming weeks.

On a glorious sunny winter's day, the oval at St.Kevin's College was presented in perfect shape and both teams started sprightly in the conditions. The tight confines of the College Oval led to plenty of contested ball and winning the footy was tough. SKOB got the first, but Caulfield were able to capitalise better on their opportunities and found themselves a couple of goals to the good when they changed ends for the first time. After a bit of a wake up call, SKOB responded well in the second term and started to get on top in the areas that counted - most importantly - the scoreboard. A four goals to one term saw them go to the sheds with a sufficient enough lead to satiate the supporters and help relax the nerves enough to enjoy the afternoon tea on offer in the pavilion. Caulfield were far from done though and they raised the tempo again in the third to grab the lead at the final change and cause a few flutters to re-emerge for those fans who were trying to digest the last of the lamington slice. After Captain Tom Jok put the hosts back in front at the start of the last and the sense of normal service felt as though it were being resumed, Caulfield flipped the script again. A couple of quick majors went left unanswered by SKOB and as the clock ticked towards 20 minutes they landed two long bombs in a row (all without a SKOB possession in between) to balloon the lead out to what looked like a match winning break.

A shell shocked SKOB then responded with 5 minutes of pure brilliance. Winning every centre break - mostly thanks to Ben Mansfield who got stellar service from Billy Coates - SKOB landed goals through Tom Williams, who made the most of his Senior return, Jacob Koschitzke who half volleyed one into the roof of the net, Mansfield himself who followed up his clearance work, then Jack Behnk who did likewise, to turn the 20 point deficit into a four point lead in the blink of an eye. The turnaround was so quick that SKOB had left enough time on the clock for the fielders to come again and try and pinch it. They launched a couple of promising forays, but SKOB had now set up well behind the ball and their defenders stood up in the final few minutes - punctuated best by Jack Andriske who threw a golden fist to spoil his Caulfield opponent as the visitors threw their best last punch. The siren sounded to relief from the home fans as they held on to deny a very gallant opponent.

Best for SKOB were Jack Behnk, Billy Coates, Sam Cameron, Andrew Mathieson, Ben Mansfield and Jack Andriske.

Saints find fields too fierce

The Saints Gold and Blue ran into a couple of very strong Caulfield Grammarians teams at Glenhuntly and despite battling hard all day, found their hosts too good on the day. Sez Withers was there to catch the action, including snaps of Elyce Hay who played her 150th Senior Game of football (51 of these since crossing to SKOB Saints from Melb Uni). Well done Elyce - 200 is in your sights 👏

Seniors	13.12.90	Defeated	Caulfield Gram	12.15.87
Reserves	5.13.43	Lost to	Caulfield Gram	9.10.64
Saints Gold	2.3.15	Lost to	Caulfield Gram	5.13.43
Saints Blue	1.0.6	Lost to	Caulfield Gram	7.14.56
Saints Green	2.2.14	Lost to	Monash Blues	3.1.19
U19 Premier	9.12.66	Defeated	Parkdale	7.9.51
U19 SD1	5.6.36	Lost to	Old Melburnians	18.22.130
U19 SD3	10.11.71	Lost to	Beaumaris	11.13.79
Academy	5.5.35	Lost to	Old Xavs	14.16.100
Stingers	9.9.63	Defeated	Fitzroy	7.7.49
SKOB Dogs	1.1.7	Lost to	Uni Blacks	19.15.129