YARRA Glen and Thornton Eildon have delivered the best footy story of 2018 — despite a record 347-point slaughter on Saturday.

The Yarra Glen Thunder produced the fourth highest score ever seen in the Yarra Ranges competition, booting 54.29 (353) to Thornton’s 1.0 (6).

The Thunder may have fallen short of the league’s record of 68.32 (440) set by Emerald against Boronia Park in 2000, but they instead delivered a piece of history and one of the best yarns of the year.

Yarra Glen coach Lee Thompson has explained his team sacrificed chasing their club record score of 61.28 (394) — set in 1983 against Marysville, according to The Yarra Valley Leader — to chase a different piece of history.

Thompson said his club made a decision at half time to chase an almost unprecedented perfect game to get all 21 of his players a goal on the scoresheet.

That switch delivered a moment of local footy legend and a perfect cliffhanger that came down to the final kick off the game after the siren.

Thompson said the four players on his team who had yet to kick a goal up to three-quarter time had to raise their hands in the three-quarter time huddle to identify themselves to their teammates as the primary attacking targets for the final term.

By doing that, the entire crowd knew exactly what was going on and cheered every goal — and groaned with every near miss — as three of the four players eventually kicked goals in the final quarter.

Every one, except for ruckman William Kristelly, had their goal deep into the final term.

Kristelly was sitting with the astonishing personal tally of 0.8 inside the last minute of play when the Thunder launched one final raid to get him the ball inside fifty.

The big man clunked a mark about 40m out right in front just as the siren sounded.

Two time league best and fairest Lachlan Telford said Kristelly was under immense pressure to slot the goal, knowing full well that he was facing the club’s Thursday night Wheel of Punishment if he failed to get a major.

With punishments ranging from training in his jocks to getting his head shaved or training on a Thursday night in his full club gear, Kristelly lined up for goal.

But with a piece of history on the line, the opposition made a shock gesture. The Thornton player standing the mark deliberately infringed, handing Kristelly a 50m penalty and moving him right to the goal line where he made the easiest of conversions.

Thompson said members of Kristelly’s family had previously played for Thornton —

and those family connections paid off immensely in that moment after the siren.

“A Thornton bloke went over the mark on purpose so he’d end up kicking one,” Telford said.

“He was the only bloke that hadn’t kicked one. Even our fullback had kicked a goal in the second quarter.”

After Kristelly slotted his punt from point-blank range the Yarra Glen Football Ground erupted.

Even his teammates — who were looking forward to watching Kristelly “spin the wheel” of punishments — were cheering.

“I think they felt a bit sorry for him,” Thompson said of Thornton’s decision to get Kristelly on the scoreboard. They wanted him to get that bit of history.”

Remarkably, the 347-point slaughter could have been so much worse.

The Glen were ahead by 104 points at quarter time and began taking their foot off the accelerator in the second quarter where they went into half time leading 34.16 (220) to 1.0 (6).

“It was pretty hard to get the guys motivated at half time,” Thompson said.

“So we put it to the boys that you don’t get too many chances to create a record or to get every player on the scoresheet. I don’t think too many clubs around Australia have actually been able to manage that. So that was our goal for the second half, to get everyone involved.”

Yarra Glen’s decision to focus on sharing the goals around stopped forward Richard Gurney from adding to his 12-goal haul, but the arrival of a fierce “hurricane” downpour in the third quarter was the main reason the home team was held to just five goals in the third quarter.

“If the hurricane didn’t come through in the third quarter we could have given the record a nudge,” Thompson said.

“It’s not really good for the league, though, to see a side struggling like that. Full credit to Thornton, the game was definitely played in the right spirit. At the end of the game, we clapped them off and we opened up the two changerooms. Hopefully, they’re a club on their way back.”

Thompson says his team wasn’t chasing a percentage boost because they are already certain to finish second on the ladder with one final round to play before finals.

Thornton has regularly been beaten by 200-point margins this season in a struggling year for the Kangaroos — just two years after the club made the preliminary finals of the Yarra Ranges Second Division competition.

Thompson said Thornton players showed impressive character and sportsmanship during the contest with some veteran players backing up and playing a second game after the early over-age competition game.