Iggy Park redemption
IGNATIUS Park College announced its return to the Aaron Payne Cup heavyweight ranks after rolling past an outclassed but courageous Mackay State High School 42-8.
Trailing Mackay 8-6 after halftime, another shock result appeared in store for Iggy Park after its 26-8 defeat against The Cathedral College.
But a moment of individual brilliance from Iggy Park winger Raheen Rolphe after halftime opened the floodgates, as the home side ran in another five unanswered tries to put the pain of the previous weekend’s defeat firmly behind it.
Iggy Park rake Maverick Pegoraro opened the scoring after eight minutes by kicking a grubber to himself and scoring, and the home outfit kept applying pressure for most of the half.
But as halftime approached Mackay started making inroads and, on their first attacking set, the visitors scored a brilliant team try, finished by winger Dawson Harch in the corner to make it 6-4.
Iggy Park came out firing after halftime, but it was Mackay that scored again, and it was Harch who scored yet another impressive try in the corner to hand Mackay a shock 8-6 lead.
But it didn’t take long for the Iggy Park steamroller to click into gear, with Rolphe’s bust on Mackay’s 40m line resulting in a run chase that saw the Bowen junior fend off two Mackay defenders and score.
“I said to them at halftime, ‘If you hold the football, points will come in the second half,’” Iggy Park coach Steve Lansley said. “A lot of times you have to wear your opposition out.”
Halfback Braithen Knox split Mackay’s defence for Iggy Park’s third try, and prop Isaiah Vailailo crashed over the line soon after to make it 24-8.
Full of running and clearly in their element, Iggy Park hit Mackay with another quickfire one-two through winger Eddy Hampton and Sean Bourke to seal the contest, and halfback Thomas Duffy put Iggy Park past 40 points with a try on the right edge. Duffy converted from the sideline, making it a perfect seven conversions for the talented playmaker.
Mackay coach Rowan Graham said his team would still aim to frustrate the competition’s more fancied sides.
“We use the word ‘annoying’; we just got to stay in games and annoy teams, and stay in the fight,” he said. IGNATIUS PARK COLLEGE 42 (Pegoraro, Rolphe, Knox, Vailailo, Hampton, Bourke, Duffy; goals Duffy 7) def MACKAY STATE HIGH SCHOOL 8 (Harch 2).