Yanco-Wamoon will travel to Griffith next weekend after a strong second half performance saw them defeat Tullibigeal Lake Cargelligo 27-20 at Yanco Sportsground.
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It wasn’t the strongest start for the Hawks and after racing out to try and close down TLU’s Jaden Kelly, but this allowed Kelly to play in Tim McAuley who opened the scoring just over a minute in.
After putting pressure on the Sharks defensive line, the Hawks were able to take the lead when Josh Nikoro found his way across and with a successful conversion from Gary Ingram it was 6-4 in Yanco’s favour.
The side continued to trade tries with Jaden Kelly getting across after a strong break before Shannon Bradbrook made a smart play from dummy which led to a try to Will Barnes.
Two tries within a matter of minutes for the Sharks with Kelly crossing for his second before Robert Simpson followed two minutes later saw the TLU side head into the break with a 20-12 lead.
The Hawks needed to hit back quickly to stop the momentum and were able to with Andriu Tagilala finding his way across the line.
The Yanco side took the lead with Billy Ingram getting across the line with 24 minutes remaining to see the scoreline sitting at 24-20 in the Hawks favour.
A penalty goal from Gary Ingram and a field goal from Bradbrook with four minutes remaining wrapped up the win for the Hawks.
Yanco-Wamoon coach Nick Puntoriero praised his side’s performance.
“We grinded out that second half really well,” he said.
“We just defended, defended and defended and when we got the opportunity with the ball we got it up the other end and tried to keep them up there.
“We worked really well as one unit.
“We had a little patch in the first half where we dropped off, and they scored a couple of quick tries, and we were pretty quick to rectify that at halftime.”
Puntoriero was pleased to report no injuries after a physical match.
The Hawks will now take on the loser from the major semi-final being played in Yenda between the Blueheelers and Waratah Tigers.