Emmanuel College wins 2022 School Sport Victoria premier boys' football grand final

The Warrnambool-based school defeated Bendigo's Catherine McAuley College by 15 points in Wednesday's grand final at Ballarat's Mars Stadium.

It followed wins in its pool games and a convincing 43-point victory against Bendigo Senior Secondary College at the semi-final stage.

Emmanuel College coach Chris McLaren said the school had earned a spot in the Herald Sun Shield semi-final on July 27.

"The grand final is (usually) played on the MCG so there's a bit of a carrot there," he said.

"Herald Sun Shield, we're talking St Pat's Ballarat, St Joseph's Geelong. (These schools) have scholarships and are recruiting kids for footy so they would take a bit of beating but it's a great opportunity.

"It's a bit of a surprise to me - I thought my Emmanuel coaching season was over, when you win a grand final you normally put the whiteboard away but we have another game on July 27."

McLaren said the players were proud to win a decider for their school, proudly wearing their medals on the trip home.

Three Warrnambool-aligned players - Reggie Mast, Ethan Boyd and Finn Radley - patrolled the Emmanuel back line against Catherine McAuley College with Mast named best on ground.

Mast, who is already playing Hampden league senior football aged 15, was effective at half-back.

"Reggie is so good aerially and just kept marking it for us when we were under the pump at times," McLaren said.

"When you are playing at half-back and marking a lot from opposition kicks, it's a big launching pad for offence as well as stopping their attacks."

Harry Keast (North Warrnambool), Curran O'Donnell (Koroit) and Oscar Pollock (Port Fairy) were influential in the midfield as was South Warrnambool's Luamon Lual on a wing.

Emmanuel College showed its mettle in the decider, down at the first two breaks. McLaren was pleased with the players' ability to implement change in the second half and wipe out a 10-point deficit.

"They were a pretty good team and had some pretty good players and we just had to sort a few things out at half-time," he said.

"We got a bit of momentum back in the second quarter but just couldn't score and kept making some errors.

"We brought up two or three things we needed to try and fix and they were able to do that.

"Sometimes you talk about 'we need to do this, this and this' and it doesn't get done but (actually doing it) comes back to club coaching and opportunities in seniors so they're across that pretty well.

"Once we sorted it out, we looked a better team in the second half which was pleasing."

MORE SPORT:

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: