Saint Ignatius wins Herald-Sun Shield

Saint Ignatius' winning senior football team. (Ivan Kemp) 432250_03

Saint Ignatius College was ruthless in winning the 2024 Division 2 Herald-Sun Shield recently.

The Saint Ignatius Wolves steamrolled through the local GISSA qualifying tournament, which culminated in an 82-point win against Iona College.

The Bellarine-based college won all four games by an average margin of 98 points.

In the statewide finals at Casey Fields, Cranbourne East, Iggies defeated Overnewton College 7.5(47) to 1.0(6).

And in the grand final, Saint Ignatious kept Newhaven College scoreless to win 9.4(58) to 0.0(0).

The match was expected to be close, but with two quick goals from Jack Bennett and Jai Belcher, the team was off to a great start.

The Wolves, through Daniel Lowther, Luke Adams and Tait Lunnon-Johnson then kicked goals in a row to take a 34-point lead into half time.

Saint Ignatius then showed why it was such a dominant team throughout the tournament. In a blistering second term, the Wolves piled on another five goals and took a commanding 58-point win.

Key forward Daniel Lowther was named best on ground while the centre clearance work by Will Smith, Angus Ford, Billy Hayward and Harry Morphet was pivotal.

A key for the team throughout the competition was the great defensive work by Marley Cornell, Lachlan McLean, Jamison Hallam and Ethan Hughes who kept the opposition to low scores and key ball movers in Harry Sedgmen, Ryder Roberts, Darcy Brislane with overlapping run and carry.

Coach Joe McLean and assistants Andrew Philp and Matthew Waters were very happy with the team’s performance.

It capped off another amazing year for St Ignatius’ Australian Rules football sides.

The Year 7/8 Boys side were the GISSA Champions and the Year 9/10 were GISSA Boys Champions and Herald-Sun Shield finalists.