FOOTBALL

BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT

 

LOWANNA College captured the School Sports Victoria football championship recently, running the table of opponents to be recognised as best in the state.

A dominant run concluded with the senior (Year 11/12) side decimating fellow grand finalists Trinity College Colac by 102 points on Tuesday, August 25 at Tony Sheehan Oval, Bundoora.

The demolition marked a historic moment for the Newborough high school as its first major state schools football title in more than 20 years.

While the game wasn’t too far gone for the western Victorian school into the second quarter, Lowanna proved to have too much talent when it was all said and done.

Blitzing through the middle of the ground and creating for his teammates, Keenan Boi was awarded best-on-ground honours, while Kaiden Walmsley, Fraser Aubrey, Alex Ingram and Noah Romeril also played well.

Boi, from the Warragul area, has enjoyed an impressive final year of under 18s as a member of Hawthorn’s Next Generation Academy in a hopeful bid for the upcoming AFL draft, while also appearing at the AFL National Championships for Victoria Country.

Past the singular result, Lowanna College’s Sports Academy has produced a number of AFL prospects in the last decade, including Gold Coast’s Bailey Humphrey, St Kilda’s Alix Tauru, North Melbourne’s Jacob Konstanty, and Melbourne’s Tom Matthews.

The school will be looking to bolster that list further in this year’s draft, especially through Gippsland Power ruck Xavier Ladbrook, who played earlier in the school sports tournament.

Leading into the grand final, Lowanna College went unbeaten in the local round robins against the likes of Marist-Sion College and other Bass Coast schools.

A comfortable 63 point win over Wantirna College in the quarter final and 35 point victory over Notre Dame College Shepparton in the semi-final booked Lowanna’s spot in the big dance.

Lowanna College has been successful on the school sports circuit nationally as well, winning gold at the Australian Basketball Championships in 2015.

One player on that gold medal winning side, Moe senior footballer Harry Pepper, was also once a Hawthorn junior academy player just as current Lowanna student-athlete Boi is.