It was a big day at Yarra Glen where Yarra Glen took on Pakenham in the eleventh Pride Cup match.
With Pakenham being undefeated in all grades it would be an enormous challenge for Yarra Glen.
The football started with the U18s in perfect conditions.
The River Pig boys did a fantastic job in the first half, keeping Pakenham to just two goals in each of the first three quarters whilst adding one of their own through Callum Saunders.
At three quarter time Pakenham had scored just the six goals.
With a deep bench and stronger bodies the Pakenham boys were able to add six goals against a defiant but tiring Yarra Glen outfit.
It was a great effort for Yarra Glen to get closer to Pakenham than any other team to date.
Final Scores, Yarra Glen 1.3 v Pakenham 12.17.
Best Players: Lachlan Carter, Callum Sanders, Brody Adams, Hunter Grenfell, Charlie Wilks and Max Williams.
The reserves faced the mammoth task in taking on top of the ladder and undefeated Pakenham with a depleted team.
With a big list injuries, the reserves had to call on three under 18s to back up to fill their list.
Pakenham started strongly as the River Pigs struggled to stop the quality of ball movement of their opponents.
At half time Pakenham had moved out to an 11 goal lead.
Despite being outsized, outpaced and outclassed, the Yarra Glen boys never gave up and produced their best football in the second half before going down, Yarra Glen 1.3 to Pakenham 19.16.
Best Players: Max Murphy, Josh Tilley, Josh Dick, Ethan Murdock, Keithy Gerovasilis and Justin Russo.
Yarra Glen’s goal kicker was Josh Tilley.
In the senior football Pride Cup match Yarra Glen started strongly and for the first half of the quarter they dominated general play.
They added two goals before Pakenham could get the ball into their forward 50, but this should have been four as a number of easy shots were missed.
Pakenham finished the quarter well to draw level at quarter time.
With a breeze at their back, Pakenham lifted their tempo, getting loose and connecting well with precision passing and clean ball handling.
The Yarra Glen tackle pressure waned as they allowed Pakenham to add five unanswered goals.
Whilst the River Pigs outscored their opponents in the third, they were unable to get close enough to put any real pressure on Pakenham.
Whilst Yarra Glen lost 6.8 to 12.14, except for the second quarter, the River Pigs were super competitive.
The Pride Medal for best on ground went to Pakenham’s D’Angelo Taite.
Best for Yarra Glen were: Ryan Smith, Marcus Kikidopolous, Trent Russell, Aussie Smith, Ben Ashton.
Goal kickers, Jayden Capuano, Noah Battle, Jake Ferris, Heath Chamberlain, Josh Hawkins and Chris Webber.
The Yarra Glen Vets team took on Mt Evelyn and got away to a good start kicking the first two goals.
They couldn’t add to this and at half time they were still two goals with Mt Evelyn adding one. With Yarra Glen kicking three in the third and Mt Evelyn one, it was 5.4 to 3.4 at the last break.
With a limited bench and some early injuries, the River Pigs went into lead protection mode in the last.
In a gutsy effort they were able to hold off Mt Evelyn, who piled on the pressure but couldn’t convert.
Final scores Yarra Glen 5.6 defeated Mt Evelyn 3.10.
Best players: Peter Moate, Anthony Coppin, Drew Brodie, Regen Daniel, Tom Matthews and Chris Capuano.
Goal Kickers: Peter Moat two, Regen Daniel, Liam Bull and Colin Van Dreumel.
The Yarra Glen netballers faced Pakenham, with the Lions girls being undefeated and on top in all grades.
In the Pride Cup match, the Yarra Glen A Grade girls started well and in a goal for goal tussle, they were just one goal down at quarter time.
Pakenham stretched their lead to six at half time and ended up winning 51 to Yarra Glen’s 28.
The scores didn’t reflect the level of the contest, with Yarra Glen having Georgia Crundale celebrating her 100th game with a great performance, whilst Jasmine Evans and Gemma Ryan were also terrific on the day.
Yarra Glen B Grade put in a solid four quarter effort but just found Pakenham were just too strong all over the court.
Despite this they battled to the end and in great last quarter effort, were only outscored by two goals.
Final result Yarra Glen 29 to Pakenham 55.
Best were Imojean Parsons, Jasmin Wood and Georgie Crundale.
The C Grade game started with both teams playing good netball, seeing Pakenham up by one at quarter time and Yarra Glen leading by one at halftime.
The Yarra girls lost their connection under increased pressure from the Lions girls and with a few turnovers found themselves going down, Yarra Glen 33 to Pakenham 44.
Best players were Noeline Davidson, Leah Haag and Jacinda Fraser.
With D Grade starting the day for Yarra Glen, they got off to a shocking start to find themselves only converting for one goal in the first quarter whilst Pakenham banged on 14.
Showing some great River Pig spirit the Yarra girls outscored Pakenham in the last quarter to close the gap, going down Yarra Glen 21 to Pakenham 40.
Best players: Ruby Bennett, Phoebe Boot and Annabelle Forsyth.
Next week Yarra Glen travel to Powelltown for all grades except the Vets, who will play Gembrook at Yarra Glen, starting at 6.00 pm.
