The junior Berwick Miners celebrate their Gridiron Victoria Junior Vicbowl win, which ended a five-season drought for the club. Pictures courtesy Josh Button.By Marc McGowan
A STUNNING performance from quarterback Lemy Faimoa last month led the junior Berwick Miners to their first Gridiron Victoria Junior Vicbowl since 2002.
Faimoa, who was named the most valuable player in the grand final, rushed for two touchdowns and threw another to cap rookie coach Scott Sunderland’s remarkable year after taking over from the long-serving John Murphy.
Interestingly, Sunderland was also in his first season as captain of the Miners when they won the 2002 Junior Vicbowl after playing in the club’s 2001 triumph.
Berwick entered the match as underdogs against the undefeated Bay City Buccaneers.
Scores were tied 14-14 at half-time, but the Miners produced one of their trademark second-half surges to pulverise the Buccaneers 42-22.
Along with Faimoa, captain Ben Harmon and the ‘Fiffi’ brothers, Tana and Dave, played starring roles in the victory.
Sunderland, who is now a pivotal member of the senior squad, was delighted to avenge last year’s grand final loss to Bay City.
“It’s pretty thrilling and surreal. I had three losing grand finals as an assistant coach, so it’s good to finally win one,” the Cranbourne resident said.
“The team bonded well from the first couple of weeks.
“We lost our first game to the Buccs and really wanted to get that one back.
“The returning players didn’t want to lose another one.”
Faimoa is in the Melbourne Storm Academy, so will be lost to the sport of gridiron, but Sunderland expects about 10 of the Berwick juniors to make the transition to senior ranks next season.
Sunderland, who plays the safety position, is also looking for similarly positive news around this time in 2008.
The 24-year-old is hoping an old coach at South Carolina college team the Clemson Tigers can help earn him a guernsey for Kentucky in Arena Football.
The game is similar to gridiron, but has been tweaked to favour the offence and to appeal more to crowds.
