Hawks Narrow Victory

Langhorne Creek travelled to Willunga as under-dogs to take on an undermanned Demon line-up – and came away victorious.

Kartinyeri got the Creeks off to a flyer with a goal in the first minute. Willunga held the ball in their forward line for the next ten minutes but couldn’t convert. Darcy Scott marked everything and drove the ball forward. Hoffman was awarded a free and brought up the Demons’ first but then Langhorne took control of the centre-square and kicked five goals to one before the quarter time siren. Howell, Keynes and Tonkin got three in quick succession before Haskett marked and converted. The Creeks steadied, took the ball forward through Dominish and Blackwell. Tonkin marked and kicked his second. Dominish ran free again. Perrey marked and gave the visitors a 4-goal lead at quarter time.

Within a minute of the start of the second quarter, the Creeks snapped a major from the goal square. Willunga’s pressure lifted and they held the Hawks for five minutes before Thunig marked strongly and goaled. Helyer got another soon after to give Langhorne a commanding lead. Juckers snapped a major for the Demons against the flow and the momentum shifted in Willunga’s favour. Nye won a hard ball, evaded tacklers and kicked to Miegel who kicked his first. Standfield tapped a ball into space to allow Darcy Scott to kick a rare goal. Miegel and Juckers combined to allow Altus to take a well-judged chest mark. He kicked truly then with only seconds remaining in the quarter, Williams passed to Hoeck playing his first A-grade game for the Demons. He marked, the siren went and the young man went back and steered the ball thorough the big uprights from 35 metres out.

Willunga went into half-time with the momentum and trailing by less than two goals. But it was the visitors who started the third quarter with dash and determination. Tonkin won a hard ball and gave to Keynes who goaled two-minutes after the first bounce. The Creeks went forward and scored a behind. The Willunga kick-in was intercepted by Warren who knocked the ball to Helyer who kicked truly. From the resulting centre bounce, Dominish dashed forward and kicked long to full forward. Howell marked and kicked the Creeks’ third goal in 7-minutes. Thunig marked and was awarded a 25-metre penalty: he went back and kicked a long goal. It seemed as if the result might be a blow-out. But again Willunga dug deep and regained the momentum. Nye intercepted an attempted cross and forced the ball forward where a teammate marked and goaled. Juckers won a hard ball in the centre and passed truly to Miegel who marked and goaled then Brown snapped wildly. The ball landed in the safe hands of Haskett who took a chest mark and split the middle from a tight angle.

Langhorne started the last quarter with a 17-point lead. Willunga dominated the first ten minutes. Their first goal came from defence where McDonald and Turner moved the ball through the corridor to Standfield who marked, played on, chipped the ball over the line and set up Haskett who goaled. The ball was in the Demons’ forward line continuously but shots by Standfield, Juckers and Hoffman all went out of bounds. If even one of those shots had scored the final result may have been different. But it was not to be. Standfield marked and played on then Juckers and Nye combined to get the ball to Haskett who kicked another. One minute later, Darcy Scott roved a ball off-hands to kick Willunga’s third in five minutes. Scores were tied before Langhorne went forward. Helyer marked: his long kicked drifted wide but was punched through to give the Creeks a one-point lead. Willunga rebounded to Miegel at centre half forward. He took a running mark and was knocked to the ground. He goaled after a 25-metre penalty to give Willunga the lead for the first time all day at the 26-minute mark. Willunga’s big men flooded into defence but when Dominish squeezed a quick kick forward, they failed to compete at centre-half forward. Helyer marked and goaled from 35 metres to give the visitors a one-point lead with less than a minute to go. The Creek defended vigorously after the resulting centre bounce and were worthy victors when the final siren sounded.