Hectorville lay in wait for their prey. Will Blackfriars Old Scholars overcome their loss to St Pauls Old Scholars a fortnight ago or will St Pauls earn another crack at the Hounds?
By Lachy Jones

SEMI FINAL 1
2 Blackfriars 12.7 (79) def 4 Trinity 10.11 (71)
Blackfriars have advanced to the preliminary final with a narrow eight-point win over a brave Trinity on the weekend. The visitors had more scoring shots than the home side but could not put together an accurate performance in front of goal as Blackfriars made them pay. Blackfriars shared their goalkickers, having seven kick majors with five different players snagging two goals each, respectively. Blackfriars jumped out to an early ten-point buffer at quarter time, before Trinity squared things up at 44 apiece at the main break. The home side was then able to gain a slight seven-point margin at the last change, a deficit that would never be recovered by the visiting side for the remainder of the game. Patrick Harmer was voted best afield in the win, as Blackfriars seemed to have put last week’s qualifying final loss behind them. They will play St Pauls again in the penultimate game of the season, whom they lost to last week, with the winner advancing to play Hectorville in the big dance. Perhaps a little lucky due to the inaccuracy of their opponents, but still Blackfriars will take what they can get and are a real shot of winning the premiership albeit they handle St Pauls this week.

 
SEMI FINAL 2
1 Hectorville 12.8 (80) def 3 St Pauls 7.11 (53)
Despite an early scare from the underdog St Pauls on the weekend, the Hounds advanced to the grand final and earned themselves another week off with a 27-point win. Goalless at quarter time, Hectorville were on the back foot as the visitors escaped to a 13-point first quarter lead. However, by halftime the home side had kicked into gear, tying things up at 4.6 each. Inaccuracy then cost St Pauls the game, much like it did with Trinity, as the Hounds narrowly led by 3 points at three quarter time with less scoring shots, before a last quarter burst of five goals to one put the game to rest. Dylan Kahl was the best player on the field for the winning side, while Will Thwaites and Zachary Stephenson both kicked three goals to lead all scorers. While the Hounds get a rest next week, St Pauls will have to play the team they beat last week in Blackfriars, who will be looking for revenge, in order to meet the Hounds again in the grand final.

 
FINALS WEEK 3 PREVIEW

PRELIMINARY FINAL
3 St Pauls V 2 Blackfriars

ST PAULS COLLEGE; Saturday 19 September, 2:15PM
Déjà vu, anyone? These two sides will face off for the second time in this finals series, after St Pauls defeated Blackfriars in week 1 of the finals on the road. This time, the roles are reversed, with St Pauls the favourites as the home side against a Blackfriars team that only barely got over the hump against Trinity last week. This St Pauls outfit has found some serious form, defeating Hectorville a few weeks ago and almost knocking them off again last week had it not been for a poor last quarter. While on the other end of the spectrum, Blackfriars’ form is not up to finals standard currently and they can risk being eliminated this week if they play like they did in the qualifying final against the same side. With a more complete performance – and accurate kicking – this contest shapes up to be a cracker, and the winner will meet Hectorville in the grand final next week. Who will advance?

To continued reading please click here to download.