The region's best junior football talent have shown off their skills under the sparkling Friday night lights of Central Park, with the Turner-Tuckey shield on the line.
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A big crowd filed into to watch rivals Ararat and Stawell battle for the shield and community pride, with Ararat walking away victorious after a thrilling battle.
The young and undersized Stawell squad started slowly, conceding the first five goals of the match.
Callum Harris, Skyla Ralph and Kobe Herbert were all amongst the goals for Ararat, putting the Stawell defenders under all kinds of pressure.
But before half-time, Stawell rallied with a goal of their own, cutting the margin to 5.2 (32) to 1.0 (6).
And in the second half Stawell continued their momentum kicking two unanswered goals and bringing themselves right back into the match.
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The comeback was led by Tarquin Young, who booted two goals with Lachie Kenyon and Domenic Guisa also getting involved.
At three-quarter time the margin had been reduced to 5.2 (32) to 3.2 (20), setting up a thrilling finish.
The final term was a see-sawing battle, with both sides having their turn in attack.
Stawell manage to score one goal, but it wouldn't be enough to erase the first half deficit as Ararat held firm to win 5.3 (33) to 4.2 (26).
After the game Ararat's Reggie Jenkins was named best on ground with Domenic Guisa named Stawell's best player.
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Stawell guest coach and former AFL player Brent Tuckey said he was pleased to be part of a thrilling game.
"It was really good to step back into my home club here, everything looked great.
"The crowd as well, it was really good to see everyone come out, the atmosphere was really good and the game itself was really entertaining as well.
"They (the players) have been picked to represent their town and so I want them to go on and make the next level from here.
"It all begins at a grassroots level so its really good to have the this game to give the kids a platform to go on from there."
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