Under-18 Match Report: Round 9 vs West Adelaide

Under-18 Match Report

South Adelaide vs West Adelaide
Round 9 - Flinders University Stadium - 05/06/2021

Goals: Schirmer 5, Pilmore 2, Brown, Cockshell, Delean, Marshall, Rogers
Best: Birt, Schirmer, Hayes, Brown, Jones, Verrall

A spirited fightback by the South Adelaide Under-18s saw them defeat a second-placed West Adelaide outfit by 25 points at Flinders University Stadium on Saturday.

A testament to the tale of two halves; the Panthers, who were trailing by 27 points at halftime, managed to drastically turn the match around by kicking eight unanswered goals to claim a stunning win over the second placed Bloods, 12.10 (82) to 8.9 (57). 

Impressive up forward for the Panthers was Tom Schirmer who finished with five goals to his name while Lachlan Hayes collected a grand total of 33 disposals and 4 tackles.

Facing off against the Bloods who, at that stage of the season, had lost just one game.

The Panthers burst out of the box early by kicking two goals within the opening six minutes of the match. However, once Kyle Marshall and Jack Delean had registered their first goals of the day, both of the sides begun to suffer from some wayward kicking.

Following a rough patch of kicking in which the two sides combined for five behinds, the Bloods struck with two late goals to even the quarter time scores. This momentum was something that the Bloods carried with them into the first half of the second term as the visitors amassed four unanswered goals to gain a healthy buffer.

The Panthers did find some relief through Schirmer, who helped steady the side with his first goal of the match which was closely followed a minute later by Bailey Pilmore's first. But despite this steadier the signs did not look promising as the halftime score line read 4.3 (27) to 8.6 (54).

Yet in a sign of the blue and white boys' strength they put together a spectacular third quarter display which included three goals by Schirmer. After trailing by 27 points at halftime, the Panthers piled on five unanswered goals to lead by a goal at the final break.

However, they were not happy with a 33-point turnaround as the boys kept pushing to make sure the win was theirs and by the time the final siren had rung they had managed to stretch their lead out to 25 points.

The 12.10 (82) to 8.9 (57) win sees the Panthers sit just one point out of the top four and they will look to keep this winning form going when they face off against Norwood at Coopers Stadium on Saturday, 12 June, from 11:30am.

Show that you are #SouthProud in 2021!