MANSFIELD Eagles under 14 football team travelled to Wangaratta on Saturday morning to take on the Benalla Giants in the preliminary final.

Conditions were perfect for football and both teams started off intensely.

Eddy Morphett, James Benton, Astin Browning combined with Jaxon McCormack got the ball out of the middle quickly.

Hayden Desmond led the forward line with help from Charlie Dobson and Harry Craddock got the ball forward to get the score board ticking over.

The Giants ended the quarter ahead by two points.

The second quarter was a solid hit out for both sides.

Liam Smith was in everything as usual as was Will Northcott and the Yencken boys defended well as did Oscar Guppy.

The young Eagles managed to be in front at half time by nine points.

After the main break, the boys came out pumped up and full of confidence and played hard football.

Tyler Polkinghorne was moved into the forward line with great effect with plenty of help from Chris Caminos and Ethan Pigdon.

The backline defended extremely well: Noah Pigdon, Cruz Purday and Jaxon Day all playing well.

The Eagles were in front by 12 points up at three quarter time.

The last quarter was as intense as the first three, with good passages of play from both sides.

Noah Whittall defended well as did Tom Williams.

With both sides only scoring one goal and one point each for the quarter Mansfield came out on top with the final score being 5.17 (47) to 5.5 (35).

Awards went to Tyler Polkinghorne – Mansfield football netball club cap, Cruz Purday – O'Malley's Pizza award, and Eddy Morphett – Ben Purday Bricklaying award.

The young Eagles take on Wangaratta Imperials in the grand final next Sunday, September 4 at Wangaratta Show Grounds 10:45AM start.