Brumbies action! (w/e Feb 26)

With the chance to jump back into the top four, Ballan Brumbies Under 14 D Boys faced a tough task against top of the table Drummo Dragons. Ballan started red hot, racing out to an 8-0 lead through strong work inside from Lucas Cardona and a lovely floater from Kris Seketa. Playing his first game since the Christmas break, centre Eamon Grigg was assigned the task of putting the clamps of Drummo star Shaurya Rathi which, with some help from the Excellent Isaac Healey, he did well. After a sweet three pointer from Hunter Cooper and a pair of Healey jump shots, Ballan led comfortably 15-2, Brumbies looking well in control. However, as is this teams wont, Ballan's intensity inexplicably collapsed as Drummo came roaring back into the match on the back of strong play from Rathi and tricky lefty Max Crough. Dragons cut the lead to just seven, Ballan leading 18-11 at the half. After a brief resurgence saw Healey again connect and the unusually ineffective Foster Trinder get quick buckets, Drummo again surged, their nine unanswered points cutting Ballan's lead to just two with 10 minutes to play. At a timeout, the Brumbies boys were urged to rediscover their fire, especially at the defensive end. The five player unit of Grigg, Healey, Trinder, Khulan Morris and Zack Harrison stepped up, turning the match back in Ballan's favour. Harrison, who was seemingly everywhere defensively, started things rolling by creating turnovers on consecutive possessions; Healey and Morris scoring form the resulting fast breaks. Trinder then snapped out of his funk, slicing through the Dragons defense and skying for huge offensive rebounds to put more points on the board. As it turned out, Brumbies held Drummo scoreless for the remainder of the match which saw them run out winners over the ladder leaders, 29-20. The match, though, was much closer than that. The win sees Ballan move into the top four with just two rounds remaining before finals. Under 10 Boys D lost to Drummo Dragons 18-34 Under 12 Boys E defeated Wildcats 25-9 Under 12 Boys C defeated Celtic Tigers 60-22 Under 12 Girls defeated Wildcats 31-8 Under 14 Boys F White drew with Saints Taipans 25-25 Under 14 Boys F Blue lost to Drummo Dragons 21-30 Under 14 Boys D defeated Drummo Dragons 29-20 Under 14 Boys C defeated Excies Acmy 53-30 Under 14 Girls D defeated Excies Acmy 21-13 Under 14 Girls B lost to Excies Acmy 22-29 Under 16 Boys G White lost to Phoenix Rush 15-42 Under 16 Boys G Blue lost to Sovereign Knights 1-64 Under 16 Boys E lost to Sovereign Knights 41-48 Under 16 Boys C lost to Drummo Dragons 38-56 Under 19 Boys E defeated Phoenix Chargers 66-36 Under 19 Girls defeated Saints Panthers 39-29