By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE rise of the Pakenham Silverbacks continued on Sunday as they claimed their second win in their debut season of the Gridiron Victoria competition.
The Silverbacks, somehow still without a home ground, travelled to Parkville and took care of business against the Melbourne Uni Lions for the second time this year, 31-6.
A brilliant opening kick return from Adam Kolinski left the Pakenham offense in excellent field position and it only took two plays for quarterback Steve Mclean to find an open Felix Brown with a pass, who weaved his magic through congestion for the first of his two touchdowns for the day.
Pakenham’s defense held tight, allowing nothing past in the first quarter while on the offensive end the Silverbacks put the pedal to the metal in the second quarter with both their running and passing games putting them in fantastic positions, before hard runs from Grant Elliot, Aaron Weightman and Brown resulted in three touchdowns.
A one-point conversion from Toby Curry then added to the scoreline.
The second half was a slower, dour struggle with the Lions scoring a touchdown early before a stalemate for all but the last play, which resulted in a Mclean pass hitting Kane Latham in the end zone as time expired.
The Silverbacks have a bye this week before heading to Morwell to face the Division 2 ladder-leading Gippsland Gladiators.
