Tough Night for the Box Hill Hawks Seniors

The Box Hill Hawks Seniors team lost their second game of the season against the Casey Scorpions last night by a margin of just seven points in Captain Dave Mirra’s 100^th VFL game.

With scores tied late into the last quarter, Box Hill were unable to overcome Casey in the last minutes, with Melbourne’s Chris Dawes kicking the match winning goal.

The first quarter saw the Hawks come out firing. The group showed lots of aggression and intent early, with speed from Jermaine Miller-Lewis in a brilliant chase and tackle, and finesse from Max Warren on the boundary line in order to keep the ball the alive.

The second quarter proved more challenging for Box Hill, with Casey showing renewed effort and kicking six goals to two for the term. The group allowed Casey to control the tempo of the game, and little mistakes cost Box Hill the lead going into the major break.

The centre proved to be the biggest battle for the half, with Casey winning the Hitouts 31 to 18, and clearances 27 to 19. This allowed them to move the ball inside their forward-half of the ground eight more times, and resulted in a 16-point deficit at half-time.

The third quarter saw the Hawks return to their first-quarter form, kicking four goals to Casey’s one. Forward pressure from Chris Jones was outstanding, with Kurt Heatherley and Jermaine Miller-Lewis putting their bodies on the line further down the ground.

With only a point in it at the last break, Box Hill went into the last quarter determined to seal a win.

Brendan Whitecross and David Mirra laid big tackles early, resulting in turnovers and scoring shots. However, it wasn’t enough to get the Hawks over the line, with Casey proving too strong in the last term.

Although Box Hill delivered a tough contest winning the tackle count 69 to 44, with 13 more Inside 50s, Casey were able to move the ball more efficiently into their forward half.

Ruckman Marc Pittonet spoke with boxhillhawks.com.au after the game about the disappointing loss yesterday.

“Obviously we were pretty up and about for Dave’s 100^th and it was very disappointing that we couldn’t come out on top for him.”

“We came out pretty strong. We wanted to show how much the game meant to us and we really wanted to just attack the contest and be really hard at the ball.”

“We started really well but in the second quarter we just kind of fell away from what we came in wanting to do. The third quarter we came back with the same aggressiveness as the first and we were a lot better. But then the last quarter we just couldn’t quite get over the line.”

 

SCORES

 

Box Hill:       4.5 6.6 10.8 11.10  (76)

Casey:             3.1 9.4 10.9 12.11  (83)

 

 

GOALS

 

Box Hill: T. Miles 4, J. Summers 2, J. O’Rourke, P. Lawlor, R. Schoenmakers, D. Willsmore, B. Whitecross

Casey: C. Dawes 3, T. Smith 3, D. Terlich, J. Spencer, A. Scott, M. King, L. Hulett, T. Glen

 

 

DISPOSALS

 

Box Hill: J. O’Rourke 23, D. Mirra 18, D. Howe 18, B. Whitecross 18, T. Miles 17

Casey: J. Grimes 36, C. Salem 28, J. Trengove 26, A. Scott 25, M. White 24, A. Vandenberg 23

 

BEST

 

Box Hill: T. Miles, A. Litherland, J. O’Rourke, D. Mirra, M. Spangher, B. Whitecross

Casey: J. Grimes, C. Dawes, T. Smith, M. White, A. Scott, J. Trengove

 

 

Photo credit: Jenny Owens Photography