Gerringong junior league
July 01, 2009
Section: Sport
Gerringong Lions Under 13-2’s faced a tough test against a strong Warilla side on Saturday at Cronin Oval.
The Lions fielded only 11 players and Warilla exploited the lack of numbers early and crossed for the first try of the game.
Gerringong recovered quickly with a try to the speedy Alec Brookes and Justin Schmidt soon scored another after a bustling run.
The Lions then defended strongly, shutting down the determined Warilla attack.
Travis Elliott, Michael Swain and Harry Phillips tackled everything that came their way, taking on much bigger players. Out wide, Cody Winzer and Liam Turner kept the Warilla back line in check.
At half-time, Gerringong were a try ahead but the boys still had a half to play with only 11 players and no chance for anyone to rest.
Justin Schmidt had an outstanding game, running and tackling hard, ably supported by Jake Taylor and the rest of the pack.
Quick and clever ball delivery to the backs from Harry, Liam Ragen and Abel Wilson saw Alec cross for another try but Warilla also scored again and the Lions had to dig deep.
Jake, Abel and Liam, kept Warilla on the back foot with some clever running and kicking. Cody Winzer and Dominic Littrich each had tries disallowed before Dominic burst through the Warilla defence to run 60 metres to score. Jake added the extra points through the conversion.
This took some pressure off, but it wasn’t until Alec latched on to pass from Dominic with a couple of minutes to go and raced to his third try (with Abel adding the extras) that the young Lions could see victory in the bag.
