Sport
Junior league
Heroic win real tear jerker
16May06
FORMER Panther Stephen Antonelli can only shake his head in amazement at the achievement of the Glenmore Park under-13 Division 1 team.
Playing in the Woden Weston Luke Priddis Cup at the North Curtin Oval in Canberra the Glenmore Park boys won the tournament with a last minute try in the grand final against Guilford, Parramatta's top team of that age.
After a brilliant first 20 minutes in which Glenmore Park led 14-0 at half-time, the Guilford team were clearly rattled as they found the angles run by the Glenmore Park speedsters hard to combat.
Guilford, after a stern half-time talk by their coach, found their form and worked their way to an 18-14 lead with only a few minutes to go.
But rugby league has a way of bringing a team back to earth and it was all over in about 15 seconds when Glenmore Park winger Joshua Matherson received the ball after two passes from the scrum base to race away and put the ball down between the posts for a converted try.
The whistle then sounded before the next kick-off had been set. ``The parents were crying, I was crying, it was just the greatest feeling,'' Antonelli said.
``I am a very hard coach and pretty strict on the boys but when people come up to you saying they are the most disciplined team they have seen for their age then it is all worthwhile. We just blew them off the park in the first 20 minutes.
``I could tell my team was scared when they ran on to the park. They were big and could run but my boys stuck to their game plan and played the best football I have seen from them.
``When Luke Priddis' father presented the trophy he also said something similar.''
In the games going to the grand final, Glenmore Park won 42-4, 52-0 and 50-0, while they defeated the Canberra Rams 52-0 in the semi-final.
The full squad was: Guy Power, Alan Niulesa, Bryce Caldwell, Nathan and Jason Antonelli, Daniel Salesa, Tyson Iddles, Jordan Wright, Joshua Matherson, Jordan Boland, Steven Misevic, Tahuhurua Soatini, Cy Samuels, Brendan Attwood, Matthew Barwick, Damien Dawson. Coach: Stephen Antonelli. Trainers: Mario Misevic, Steve Wood, Ray Salesa. Managers: Kim Antonelli/Karyne Rose.
