STORM LIGHTNING U/9

Storm Lightning played Blackheath in the final round of the
competition and in an excellent display of team football won 50-
4.
Lightning played as a team in defence keeping Blackheath to
one try.Every Lightning player contributed points as well in
attack.
Try scorers were Cody Godden(3), Jye Gillespie(2), Mitchell
Case(2), Jacob Bradley and Luke Peachman.Goal scorers were
Luke Davern,Billy Charlton,Jacob Bradley,Darren Lutschini,Luke
Peachman, Cody Godden and Mitchell Case.
Congratulations to the team and coach Chris Murdoch on an
excellent season in which Lightning were only defeated on one
occasion.

Storm Lightning played Kandos at Portland and in a thrilling
match drew 28-28 after being down 16-28 in the last third of the
match.Kandos is the only side to defeat Lightning this year and
Lightning showed great courage to fight back to level the scores
and then hold out a rampaging Kandos that threw everything at
Lightning in the final couple of minutes.

Luke Peachman opened the scoring with a try from an evasive
run and Mitchell Case converted for a 6-0 lead.Kandos levelled
the score shortly afterwards.
Jye Gillespie beat several defenders to post Lightning's next try
and an accurate kick from Jacob Bradley saw Lightning lead by
12-6.
Kandos controlled possession during the middle part of the
match and they managed to score the next three tries and lead
by 22-16.
Joel Cama and Jacob Bradley ran hard all day and made some
great metres up the middle,whilst Mitchell Case , Jai Gillespie
and Cody Godden always looked dangerous with the ball in
hand.Luke Davern and Darren Lutschini showed great courage
in taking on some of the big Kandos players in attack and
defence.
Luke Peachman continued his impressive strike rate when he
scored an excellent try from dummy-half before Kandos scored
themselves to lead 28-16.
Jye Gillespie delighted the Lightning supporters with a
barnestorming run which beat several defenders before
offloading to Jacob Bradley to score in the corner in a very
exciting try.
Cody Godden then fooled the Kandos defence with an excellent
step and dummy to post his own four-pointer.An accurate kick
from Mitchell Case levelled the scores at 28-28.
Kandos threw everything they had at Lightning in the last couple
of minutes to no avail as the Lightnings defence held solid.
This was ,arguably, Lightning's best team effort this year and
thanks are extended to under 8 players Connor Legge and Riley
Allan who came off the bench to play a big part in the game.

After a break of a couple of weeks for the school holidays the boys were keen to get back on the field against Portland on Saturday 22nd July.
Portland were big improvers on their last performance with the final score 32-32 a reflection of the closeness of the match.Both sides scored six tries and four conversions in a very exciting match for spectators.
Portland scored first for an early lead before Mitchell Case and Jye Gillespie both scored good tries in quick succession.Joel Cama kicked a conversion to see Lightning lead by 10-6.
Portland drew level shortly afterwards with an unconverted try before Luke Peachman beat several defenders with pace.Mitchell Case kicked the conversion before Portland replied with a converted try of their own to again level the scores at 16-16.Portland scored again before Luke Peachman scored his second try with an excellent effort.
Joel Cama was awarded a fine try after making several good runs throughout the match in a strong performance.A successful kick(u/8 res) had Lightning in the lead briefly by 26-20 before Portland fought back doggedly with two converted tries to lead 32-26 with about two minutes to play.
Mitchell Case unleashed a brilliant run,breaking the line with determination and brushing off several desperate defenders to post his second try.Cody Godden added to his solid match with an accurate kick to make the final score 32-32.
Luke Davern,Jacob Bradley and Darren Lutschini also played their roles in a good team effort.
The McDonalds award was presented to Joel Cama.The Video Ezy award was presented to Luke Peachman.

Storm Lightning played Blackheath at Portland and won 22-10.The game was shortened and moved to an adjacent field after an unfortunate injury to a Blackheath player.
Jye Gillespie opened the scoring for Lightning with a good try which was converted by Mitchell Case.Blackheath hit back shortly afterwards to make the score 6-4 in Lightnings favour.Mitchell Case then beat several defenders to score.Codey Godden converted for a 12-4 lead.
The last third of the match produced some exciting football from both teams.Cody Godden made many inroads with the ball and was punishing in defence.Jai Gillespie and Mitchell case had excellent all-round games whilst Luke Peachman, Darren Lutschini and Joel Cama proved a handful for the Blackheath defence.A second try to Jye Gillespie was converted by Luke Peachman before Blackheath scored one of their own to make the score 18-10 in Lightning's favour.
Jacob Bradley made several excellent runs throughout the game and was rewarded with his first ever try in the dying moments of the game, to make the final score 22-10 to Lightning.Billy Charlton, Damon Beynon and Luke Davern also played their part in a good team effort.

Storm Lightning travelled to Mudgee for the Group 10 carnival and recorded three wins from three in an impressive display of team football.
In the first match Lightning played a very fast St Pats side that at times troubled the Lightning defence.To their credit Lightning scrambled in defence early before Jye Gillespie scored two tries and kicked a goal for a Lightning lead of 14-0.
Mitchell Case was rewarded for some great work in defence when he scored a try for a lead of 18-0.Lightning then held St Patricks scoreless until the final moments of the game to record a good 18-6 victory.
Lightning faced Mudgee in the second game and won convincingly 32-12.Jye Gillespie was impressive scoring three tries and producing a solid defensive effort.Cody Godden was excellent in defence, often making two and three tackles in a row.In attack Cody was very elusive and he scored two tries from great runs.Joel Cama made many good runs attracting several defenders each time he got the ball.A neat offload by Joel resulted in Luke Davern running from his own quarter before outpacing the defence to score an exciting try.Goal scorers for Lightning were Jacob Bradley,Damon Beynon,Mitchell Case and Cody Godden.
Lightning's final match was against the unbeaten Blayney side and both sides produced an exciting, physical match in which Lightning eventually prevailed 22-12.Mitchell Case opened the scoring with a long range effort from dummy-half and an accurate kick for a 6-0 lead before Blayney scored a good try to even things up.A try to Jye Gillespie and a try and a goal to Cody Godden saw Lightning lead 16-6 at the break.Blayney started the second half strongly and scored a converted try to trail 16-12.Jye Gillespie scored his second try of the match and his seventh for the day with another typically strong run.Darren Lutschini kicked a good goal to end a very entertaining match.Coach Chris Murdoch was especially impressed with the way the boys "toughed it out"when under pressure from the big Blayney side.Despite winning each of their matches Lightning were beaten for first place by Cowra on points difference.The team were presented with runners-up certificates as a reward for their efforts