THE Ararat and District Junior Association representative side have won the regional under-12 football carnival in Horsham at the weekend.
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In the final, it was a low scoring game, and Ararat was able to hold the Horsham side at bay to win 3.3.21 to 2.6.18 at Coughlin Park.
Ararat coach David Jennings said he was pleased with the way his side handled the pressure.
“The ground was very cramped, so there was a lot of congestion making it difficult to score,” he said.
“There was plenty of tackling, so the heat was on.”
Henry Shea, Zac Peachy and Thomas Bartlett were the goal-kickers, in the low scoring contest.
“To score as well as we did, it was a pretty good achievement.”
Earlier in the day, they were undefeated in their five group matches.
The consistency and evenness continued for most of the day, with different players stepping up at different times.
The coach was impressed with the effort from the full squad of 20.
Jennings singled out a handful of players who maintained a high standard throughout the day.
“Our captain Jordan Cox was voted our best player on the day,” he said.
“Darcy Woodfine was also prominent at half-forward, kicking 10 or 11 goals for the day.
“Henry Shea played at centre half-forward and floated into the middle to provide good options.
“Kade Bohner, Isaac Carra and Zac Peachy also showed plenty on the day.”
The side only had one training run in the lead-up, with the squad being finalised after the session on Wednesday evening.
“Most of the kids play with or against each other each week, so they know each other and their games inside out,” he said.
The annual competition saw teams from Dimboola, Warracknabeal, Kalkee and others in the Wimmera compete for the title on Sunday.
Jennings said he wanted thank to all the parents for their efforts in getting the players to Horsham on Sunday, following their games on Saturday for their usual teams.
He also said he wanted to thank assistant coach Tony Carra, team manager Tim Shea, Shane Hanson who field umpire, Jamie Turner who was the runner and Lee turner who goal umpired.