Emmanuel College's football side lost no admirers as its record-breaking run in the Herald Sun Shield ended at the final hurdle on Wednesday, August 14.
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The Warrnambool school, appearing for the first time in the famous football competition's senior boys' decider, fought valiantly but ultimately fell to a classy Parade College outfit 17.11 (113) to 5.10 (40) at Port Melbourne.
Emmanuel coach Chris McLaren wasn't too disheartened with the result given the quality of the opposition.
"They were as impressive a footy school as you'd ever see," he told The Standard.
"Compared to probably what we've played against through our competition and even when you cross over to last week's preliminary final against a Ballarat Grammar, they were just a class above.
"They were just so even and powerful. Really, really impressive the way they played and the skill level of their players (was high) they were just full of Coates Talent League players.
"They had a Vic Metro forward, a couple of Vic Metro on-ballers, A Vic Metro defender, so high-end. It was a great experience to play against a team like that for sure."
The Bundoora-based Parade College got off to a blistering start leading 44-13 at the first break.
Emmanuel matched it with its opponents in the second quarter, with both sides kicking 2.3 before Parade pulled away further in the second half, outscoring Emmanuel 54-12.
"...I thought we had some periods with the ball that were OK, we just couldn't get it back off them when they got it, they were too slick, too powerful, they were hard to slow down and their kicking skills were very, very sharp," McLaren said.
"Some parts of the contest were quite even but they were a bit too classy at stoppage and just moved the ball too well for us unfortunately."
North Warrnambool Eagles tall Charlie McKinnon caused headaches for the Parade defence with three goals while teammate Talor Byrne, a rising talent at Koroit, was also influential with a goal.
McLaren said the duo, along with some of the side's taller players, were impressive.
"Charlie McKinnon was terrific, Reggie Mast, Ollie Harris in the ruck was great, Amon Radley at full-back was terrific," he said.
"Those boys were great and probably Sam Carter, who's played predominantly as a defender, played a bit more on-ball today just to give us a bit more size and power there and was really good.
"And Talor Byrne, who's probably been our best player over the whole carnival, was really good again as well."
Parade also won the title in 2023, with its star player and current rising Essendon AFL forward Nate Caddy awarded best-on-ground honours in the grand final.
'A great campaign'
Emmanuel's history-making campaign consisted of many memorable moments, including the side's last-gasp Herald Sun Shield semi-final triumph against Ballarat Grammar on August 7.
It defeated Catherine McAuley College in extra-time to clinch the School Sport Victoria premier boys' title on June 26 and before that, it advanced to the semi-final of the SSV competition after beating Maribyrnong College with a major in the dying seconds.
"I said to the boys, regardless of what happens today it's an amazing effort to get where they got to," McLaren said.
"You think, we had a pool win with a goal on the siren, we had a grand final win in extra time, we had basically a kick on the siren last week to win a preliminary final after you cross over into the next competition.
"The boys have done a great job, had a great campaign and I'm really, really proud of their commitment and their efforts, they've been great."
