TRINITY College produced the biggest upset of the college football season so far when it registered its first win of the year, beating Rostrevor College 8.10 (58) to 6.12 (48) this month at Norwood Oval.
It was also the first time Trinity College has ever beaten Rostrevor in First XVIII football.
Trinity coach Scott Charlton was elated with the result, calling it reward for effort for his side which has worked hard all year with little to show for it in the way of results.
“The boys definitely carried on a little bit afterwards, which was well-deserved,” he said.
“It’s the biggest win with the First XVIII’s in my time with the side – to knock off one of those elite schools that are powerhouses of the competition was really amazing for the boys.
“Our headmaster was over the moon as well, and I think that added to the excitement a bit because they could see how big of a result this was for us as a football program, and it shows we’re going in the right direction.
“Some of the kids they beat on the night will be drafted and playing AFL footy next year, and our boys will be not only able to say they played against them, but actually got the points.”
It was far from smooth sailing on the night, with Trinity stringing together five unanswered goals in the fourth quarter to swoop on the heavy favourites as they stopped in their tracks.
Charlton said his side felt like they were a sniff, but to dominate the run home the way it did was eye-opening.
“We sort of had it in our head that if we can go out there and kick the first one or two, then we can really put Rostrevor on their backs,” he said.
“The boys were amazing – we had 17 tackles to seven in that last quarter, and it was 14 inside-50s to zero – so our pressure game was what really controlled it.
“We had nine scoring shots – kicking 5.4 – and I think the greasy conditions helped us a lot, because the ball spent a lot of time on the deck and Rostrevor just couldn’t get their kicking game going despite having an incredible amount of skill on their side.
“It was a situation where we just did everything right on the night – but that’s what it takes, and we can’t all of a sudden start thinking we’re now one of these elite sides.
“If we want to produce results like this, this is the kind of intensity we need to bring, and I think it was incredibly valuable for our players to see that if you really bring it, this is what can happen.”
Charlton highlighted Cody Gilchrist as his side’s best player on the day, kicking four goals out of the ruck, as well as running machine Trent Tattoli and captain Luigi Mondello.