BY NATHAN DOLE
IT’S a showdown between the Blues and Rams as Inglewood takes on East Loddon in the CVFL under-18s boys footy preliminary final on Saturday.
Action kicks off at 10.40am at Calivil Recreation Reserve.
At stake is qualifying for a grand final clash with the unbeaten Marong on September 9 at Inglewood’s Dissy Machinery Oval.
The Blues and Rams last met in the qualifying final on Bridgewater’s turf.
On that day it was East Loddon which charged clear in the last for a 43-26 victory.
Inglewood led 24-23 at three quarter-time, but could not halt the Rams run in the final term.
Best for East Loddon were Tyler Rasmussen, Josh Diss, Cade Tuohey and Jaxon Addlem.
The Blues’ best were Jaspa Wendels, Gabe Nevins, Tyler Murphy, Cooper Hackett, Mitchell Jeffrey and Campbell Hancock.
Inglewood bounced back from defeat to outplay Pyramid Hill in last Sunday’s first semi-final.
Although the match was at Pyramid Hill’s Mitchell Park it was the Blues who dominated most of the contest for a 113-40 victory.
The attack was led by Lachlan Harris, five goals; Mitchell Jeffrey and Jackson Luckman, three; and Gabe Nevins.
Jackson Luckman, Kyle McClellan, Gabe Nevins, Jaspa Wendels, Lachlan Harris and Logan Hackett were Inglewood’s best.
A day earlier and East Loddon Rams took on Marong in the second semi-final at Gadsden Finance Serpentine Reserve.
Unbeaten in its pursuit of back-to-back premierships, Marong marked a 105-25 victory.
Jaxon Addlem, Josh Diss, Cade Tuohey, Jye Rasmussen, Jagger Thomas and Blake Dowton were best for the Rams.
East Loddon’s squad also includes Mitch Hancock, Tom Harcourt, Sam Hicks, Joseph Ketterer, Noah Ramskill and Cyril Thomas-Tuaiti.
For Inglewood the play of Oscar Mathews, Willem Schepers and Ryder Smith will be a key factor in ensuring its season rolls on.
This season’s meetings between East Loddon and Inglewood stand at 3-1 in favour of the Rams.
East Loddon won by 30 points in round two and by 14 in the seventh.
The 13th round showdown ended in a 64-18 win for Inglewood.
In the run to the finals, East Loddon achieved a win-loss tally of 8-4, as the Blues marked a run of 7-5 to hold third place.