Hawks Soar Into Hamilton and Upset the Wildcats

On a day when most of the known world was sitting either indoors with the AC cranked or by the pool lounging back with a Mai Thai, the Broadview Hawks and the Hamilton Wildcats were set to do battle at Mohawk Sports Park. Broadview, looked to continue they winning streak in Hamilton and surprise the hometown 'Cats, but Hamilton definitely had a different idea. Unfortunately, the 'Cats were riddled with several mysterious injuries and had a few players fall ill the morning of the game; thus decimating their numbers against a full Hawks side. With only 1 reserve, the Wildcats were going to be in tough versus the Hawks who were 24 players deep on a scorching summer day, but still looked to send the "flock of seagulls" side home with a few broken wings. The Hawks game plan seemed to be run the Wildcats off their feet by using their speed and 8 reserves to keep their side fresh for 4 quarters. Their plan seemed to work, as they won the taps, cleared the centre, and moved the footy down to the Wildcats goal square time and time again in the first quarter. Despite Hamilton's backline playing quite well and not giving the Hawks any easy marks all afternoon, Broadview still managed to kick 6 goals either from the ground or horrible angles as the first quarter came to a close. The Hawkers looks to continue their dominance into the second quarter, but the Wildcats had something to say about that, as they gave the visitors a taste of their own medicine and used their speed from the middle to clear the centre and move the footy into the visitors goal square. Goals from Nick DiRago, Mike "Simple Sugars" Nolan, Joel "Don't Call Me Vince" Carter and a beautiful sausage roll from centre half back Damian Lowry helped Hamilton to close the gap heading into halftime. As the Hawks looked to be running away with the game after the 1st quarter, the Wildcats were making it interesting, as they only trailed by 3 goals with half a game left. Unfortunately, the heat and lack of numbers seemed to be getting to the home side, as the Hawks continued to run all over the tired Wildcat backline and increase their lead as the third quarter ticked away. Despite valiant efforts from rookies Huw Phillips and Jon Coatsworth in the backline, as well as seasoned vet Damian "Captain Kirk" Lowry, Broadview's full forward was having a field day in front of the 'Cats goal; picking up 10 on the day. After a very positive 2nd frame, Hamilton couldn't seem to regain their momentum and eventually fell to a much more rested Hawks squad 15.15.105 to 6.6.42.