After finishing the home and away season in fifth spot, Montmorency have completed an incredible finals run, claiming a three-point victory over Heidelberg in the 2022 Marbuilt Under-19s Division 1 grand final.
In an outstanding grand final at Preston City Oval, Montmorency gained the momentum in the later stages before holding on in the closing moments for a 5.11 (41) to 6.8 (44) victory.
Brock Binion’s performance was dominant enough to take home the best on ground medal for the day, while Zac McCormack and Jarred Seiter proved to be just as important around the ball along with Devon Noons who became the anchor of the Magpies backline throughout.
For the Tigers, Jason Smith took the game in his own hands enough to become a consistent force on the ground, with Jess Gedi and Mitchell Kane being named amongst the best along with Bailey Sobol who produced some impressive clearance work.
The Magpies drew first blood through Bronson Hill, who would kick off an excellent performance with a goal to give his side an early lead.
Though the echoes of what was to come for the rest of the game began to take form, with a major from Ryan Howarth opening the scoring for the Tigers to keep the game all square.
Binion capped off the term with a snap at goal that encapsulated his first stamp on the game, positioning the Magpies back in front in the process.
The second term kicked off with quick ball movement from Montmorency that lead to a goal by Brodie Jones, extending the lead to two majors.
But the Tigers backline structure started to find form and it helped both Mitchell Kane and Finnbar Brown kick back-to-back goals, helping the minor premiers take a two-point half time lead.
Coming out of the main break, the Magpies were determined to strike back and would do so by winning more of the contested ball.
Darcy Charles scored his first goal of the game to grab back the lead, before Hill would strike true with his set shot to kick his second and Montmorency’s fifth of the grand final.
The rest of the quarter turned into a stalemate in scoring that would eventually be snapped by the Tigers with Alexander Azzopardi breaking through by running all the way from the centre for a brilliant goal.
Heidelberg trailed by nine points at three quarter time and at the beginning of the term, they looked to have gotten the game on their terms.
The Tigers had multiple opportunities to win the match, registering eight scoring shots for the quarter but only converting one of them. That one goal came from Jordon Smith who gave Heidelberg a deserved advantage in the closing stages of the game.
But while fatigue and defence took over in the final minutes of the game Montmorency refused to go down without a fight and against the run of play, Adam Crick ran in on goal and kicked truly to give his side a two-point lead.
With the seconds ticking down, the Magpies did enough to prevent Heidelberg from producing one last shot on goal to win their second Division 1 under 19’s flag in three grand finals.
