2006 Season - Cougars heat it up in a thriller

With the Cougars v Eagles series locked at 2 a piece, game 5 in the local series was always going to be a cracker with both teams keen to take the series lead. Both teams arrived at Burnaby Lakes to beautiful barmy weather and a ground that was in superb condition.

The Eagles had extra incentive to win on the day as veteran Colin Hilton became the first BCFooty player to crack the 50 game mark. Before the game started, both players formed a guard of honour as Col ran through a banner to mark the occasion prepared loving by his “girls” - wife Kym, and daughters Sophie and Riley.

With the formalities over, it was time to get on with the footy at hand. The Cougars were buoyed before the game with the return of ruckman Mark McCutheon and the every versatile Shine Edgar, both back after an absence of a few games. They quickly made their mark with McCutheon dominating the early ruck duels and Edgar was getting a lot of it out on the wings.

Despite playing into a strong headwind, the Cougars had a lot of play in the early going. Playing his first game for the Cougars, Big Pat adapted quickly to the game at CHF and found himself in great position to take a few marks and have a couple of cracks at goal. Despite the stifling conditions, both teams were playing fast and furious. A pair of Vargo goals saw the Cougars with a slight lead at quarter time.

Q1 – Cougars 3.5.23 to the Eagles 3.1.19

After a solid first quarter and now playing with the wind, the Cougars were confident of building on their lead, but it was not to be. The Eagles centreline took away the ascendancy of the game when Chuck moved to the ruck and Randy Dickins was proving a handful up forward, kicking a number of nice goals (including a long bomb on the half-time siren). Col Hilton topped off his 50th with a highlight reel snap from the boundary and the Eagles took an 8 point lead into half time.

The Cougars couldn’t get anything going forward and when they did, Chris Payne was proving to be just that – a right pain, rejecting a lot of Cougar advances. The scoreline could have been a lot bigger for the Eagles had it not been the solid play in the backline by Scotty “Mr.” Sheen, Teddy Bundy and Luke Cikerala who were running straight lines at the footy all day. Johnny Bouker was hard at the ball too, so hard in fact that a big tackle on his favourite Eagle – Chris Freeman, lead to him popping his shoulder out and unfortunately taking no further part in the game.

Half Time – Cougars 4.6.30 to the Eagles 6.2.38

The game could have easily turned the Eagles way as players from both sides were being tested by the heat. However, the Cougars dug in and once again fought hard into the wind. Grills switched to the ruck and his attack and enthusiasm for the footy was infectious.

The centreline of Jorgansen, Vargo and Edgar was linking well leading to a couple of Vargo goals from tap out wins and some quick handballs through the centre. Les Ketchell continued to shine across the forward flank showing a lot of dash, while Campo was once again proving to be an elusive goal sneak, bagging two nice goals for the Cougars on the day.

Q3 – Cougars 8.10.58 to the Eagle 10.6.66

With an early goal to the Eagles it looked like they might just pull off a deserved victory, but the Cougars were not done yet by a long way. Scotty Sheen continued to repel numerous attacks and pump the ball long where players were lining up to get free. Shifting to Full back, McCutheon continued to be all over the footy, and had a number of long linking plays with Cikerala and Jorgansen down the wings.

Gradually the game shifted as Guthrie finished off a nice passage of play with a goal, then Grills, then Vargo and suddenly the game was extremely close. With no-one to sure of just how tight the scoreline was, and with only seconds to play, Edgar banged home a beautiful snapped goal from 20 metres out after some sensational long linking play down the wing by the Cougars.

The siren went shortly after…but who had won?.....it was the Cougars !!! A superb come from behind victory in an extremely tough game after the team had looked gone a 3 quarter time.

Final Score - Cougars 12.11.83 to the Eagles 11.10.76

Cougars Goals - Vargo 5, Campo 2, Grills 1, McCutheon 1, Jorgensen 1, Guthrie 1, Edgar 1

Eagle Goals - Dickins 4, Freemo 2, Santos 2, Col 1, Chick 1, Stinky 1