It may have been at a different venue to the round two encounter, but the result was the same at Deakin Reserve.
The young, brave Bears played beyond their years in the round nine tussle, as they fought back from a three-quarter time deficit to prevail 9.3 (57) to 8.8 (56).
Talented forward Anthony Andronaco (three goals) was the hero and stood up to kick the sealer — for their second win of the campaign — in front of the roaring home crowd.
Bears co-coach Ramadan Yze was elated and proud of the performance from his charges.
“The ticker did get a bit of a workout,” a relieved Yze said.
“The boys played really well. They showed great character to come away with the win,
“It was a lot of reward for effort I thought. The boys put in the hard yards and they got rewarded for it.”
And dig deep they did.
After getting the early jump on the Cats to lead at half-time, Shepparton found itself eight points behind at the last break.
Mooroopna, which had previously beaten Euroa and Benalla in the rounds prior, looked to have the game well and truly on its terms.
But the Bears reached another level.
“The final message was ‘let's just get the game back on our terms’ and to the boys’ credit they did that,” Yze said.
“They won the contested ball and put pressure on the ball carrier. We were really proud of the performance.”
Led by experienced heads, Nick Allan, Mitch Brett and Rowan Hiscock, the Bears hunted.
Bryce Stephenson starred in the ruck, while youngster Jed Warrin had his "head over the ball" all game.
Jack Hunt was Mooroopna's top performer, along with Ben Hicks and Dom Gugliotti.
Yze highlighted how important the win would be to the development of his young charges.
“It just gives the group a lot of confidence and courage moving forward,” he said.
“It gives them the confidence that they know they can do it against good sides. And it also shows amazing character to be able to fight, stick at it and come back and win.”
Mooroopna coach John Lamont expected a close match in the lead-up to Saturday, but he also hoped it wouldn't be as tight as one point.
Speaking after the loss — one that drops the Cats outside the top six — Lamont pointed the finger at his side's poor start.
“It feels a bit like déjà vu really,” Lamont said.
“It's disappointing and frustrating. One point makes it really hard to cop. But we just didn't come with the right attitude and full credit to Bears, they were very accurate in goals and made the most of their chances.
“It comes back to how we started the game.
“We didn't start well, we had to chase to close the gap. We got on top in the third, but we just made more errors. It was a missed opportunity, but we have got to get on with it and look to Rochester next week.”
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